£34- 


THE  MASSACRE  OF  WYOMING. 


THE 

ACTS  OF  CONGRESS 

FOR  THE  DEFENSE  OF  THE  WYOMING   VALLEY,  PENNSYLVANIA, 

1776-1778  : 
WITH   THE   PETITIONS   OF  THE 

SUFFERERS    BY   THE    MASSACRE   OF 

JULY    3,      1778, 
FOR   CONGRESSIONAL   AID. 


WITH   AN  INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER  BY 

REV.   HORACE   EDWIN   HAYDEN,   M.   A. 

CORK BS PONDING  SECRETARY   WYOMING  HISTORICAL  AND  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 


PRINTED    FOR    THE    SOCIETY. 
WlLKES-BARRE,    PA. 

I895. 


SEE    PAGE    XVIII. 


THE  MASSACRE  OF   WYOMING. 


THE 

ACTS   OF   CONGRESS 

FOR  THE  DEFENSE  OF  THE  WYOMING    VALLEY,   PENNSYLVANIA, 

1776-1778  : 

WITH    THE    PETITIONS   OF  THE 

SUFFERERS    BY    THE    MASSACRE    OF 

JULY    3,      1778, 
FOR    CONGRESSIONAL    AID. 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTORY    CHAPTER    BY 

REV.    HORACE    EDWIN    HAYDEN,    M.    A. 

CORRESPONDING   SECRETARY    WYOMING    HISTORICAL   AND   GEOLOGICAL   SOCIETY. 


PRINTED  FOR  THE  SOCIETY. 

WILKES-BARRE,  PA. 

1895- 


£3,34 


COPYRIGHT,  1895,  BY 
WYOMING  HIST.-GEOL.  SOCIETY. 


PRINTED  BY  R.  BAUR  &  SON, 
WILKES-BARRE,  PA. 


CONTENTS. 


PACK 

Preface v 

Introductory  Chapter — Massacre  of  Wyoming vii-xxiv 

Acts  of  Congress I 

Petition  of  the  Sufferers  of  Wyoming,  1837 7 

Resolutions  of  Pennsylvania  Assembly,   1837 21 

Petition  of  Samuel  Tubbs,  and  others 23 

Act  of  Congress,  1838,  Adverse  to  the  Petition 24 

Petition  of  the  Sufferers  of  Wyoming,  1839 27 

Affidavits  of  the  Survivors  of  the  Massacre,   1839. 

Mrs.  Sarah  Bidlack 44 

Huldah  Carey 44 

Bertha  Jenkins 46 

Sarah  Myers 48 

Catherine  Courtright 49 

Phebe  Cooper 60 

Colonel  Edward  Innian 45 

Colonel  George  P.  Ransom 50 

General  William  Ross 61 

Major  Eleazar  Blackmail ...  54 

Rev.  Benjamin  Bidlack 55 

Stephen  Abbott 46 

Ishrnael  Bennett 52 

Ebeuezer  Marcy 53 

Jose  Rogers 53 

Joseph  Slocum -57 

Cornelius  Courtright 59 

Anderson  Dana  .    , 66 

Elisha  Harding 70,  76 

Colonel  Zebulon  Butler's  Letter  to  Washington 68 

"               "       "  General  Hand 67 

Petition  of  heirs  of  Capt.  Samuel  Ransom  to  Congress 84 

Ratables  of  Westmoreland,  1781 78,  83 


685040 


PREFACE. 


The  contents  of  these  pages  will  be  new  to  many  readers  of  Wyo- 
ining  history.     The  Acts  of  Congress  relative  to  the  defence  of   the 
Town  of  Westmoreland  are  here  fully  presented  for  the  first  time 
since  they  appeared  in  the  Journals  of  Congress  in  1800.     The  Peti 
tions  of  the  Sufferers  and  Survivors  of  the  Massacre  to  Congress  for 
compensation,  were  published  nearly  sixty  years  ago  in  the"  Wyoming 
Republican  and  Farmer 's  Herald"  of  Kingston,  Pa.,  and  in  the  now 
very  rare  Congressional  documents  of  1838  and  1839,  to  be  found  only 
in  the  old,  established  Public  Libraries.      These  Petitions  were  un 
doubtedly  written  by  Hon.  Charles  Miner,  the  Historian,  who  in  the 
Wyoming  Republican  of  August  9,  1837,  over  the  name  of  "Justice," 
addressed  a  communication  "To  the  People  of  Wyoming"  urging 
the  presentation  to  Congress  of  such  a  Petition.     This  he  followed 
with    other    communications    on    the    subject   in   the   same    paper 
August    16,    23    and   30.     To    these   he    refers    in  the  Introduction 
to  his  "History  of  Wyoming."     The  meeting  which  adopted  the  first 
Petition  was  held  at  Wilkes-Barre,  November,  7,  1837,  and  the  Peti 
tion  was  first  published  in  the  "Republican"  of  November  15,  in  which 
the  editor  states  that,  "The  Memorial  upon  the  first  page  in  favour  of 
the  Wyoming  Claims,  is  we  understand  from  the  pen  of  C.  Miner,  Esq. ' ' 
Other  communications  from  Mr.  Miner,  though  none  are  signed 
with  his  name,  will  be  found  in  the  Republican  of  May  9,  and  23,  and 
December  5,   1839.      The  issue  of   November  22,  gives  in  full   the 
Memorial  of  the  Wyoming  Settlers  to  the  Connecticut  Assembly,  be" 
ing  in  substance  that  to  Congress  of  1837.     The  issue  of  February    6, 
1839,  contains  the  Petition  of  1839,  with  the  adverse  Report  of  Con 
gress  on  the  first  Petition,  dated  July  2,  1838,  omitting,  however,  the 
valuable  and  very  important  references  and  affidavits  of  the  survivors 
included  in  this  paper  from  page  39  to  77.     This  portion  of  the  second 
Petition  was  published  only  in  the  Congressional  Documents  of  1839. 
The  petition  of  1837  was  also  published,  with  the  omission  of  a  page, 
in  Mr.  Miner's  "History  of  Wyoming,"  Appendix,  page  75.     Of  the 
various  historians  of  Wyoming,  only  Miner,  and  Stone  appear  to  have 
seen  the  affidavits,  which  contain  the  carefully  written  recollections 
of  nearly  twenty  prominent  and  well  known  survivors  of  the  Mass 
acre  of  July  3,  1778, — material  of  the  highest  value  to  the  student    of 
the  history  of  the  Revolutionary  period.     These  documents  are  all 


reprinted  from  copies  in  my  private  library.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
Mr.  Miner  in  the  Introduction  to  his  History,  gives  especial  credit 
for  information  to  the  very  persons  whose  affidavits  are  here  presented, 
indicating  that  these  affidavits  were  written  at  his  solicitation  and  prob 
ably  under  his  inspection. 

The  Introductory  Chapter  was  printed  in  part,  in  the  Library 
News-letter  of  the  Osterhout  Library  for  July ,  1893,  but  ishere  extended 
and  enriched  with  data  never  before  published  in  this  section.  The 
original  manuscript  of  Col.  John  Butler's  certificate  of  protection  to 
Lieut.  Scovell  and  his  party  was  found  among  the  papers  of  Hon.  Charles 
Miner,  who  received  it  from  Jeptha  R.  Simms  in  1847.  The  Histor 
ical  Society  of  Pennsylvania  has  generously  loaned  it  to  the  Wyo 
ming  Hist.-Geol.  Society  for  the  purpose  of  this  paper,  and  for  exhibi 
tion  in  the  Society's  collections.  It  appears  to  definitely  settle  the 
question  as  to  who  was  the  Indian  leader  at  the  Massacre  of  Wyoming. 

HORACE  EDWIN  HAYDEN. 
WII^KES-BARRE,  Pa.,  Feb.  18,  1895. 


THE  MASSACRE  OF  WYOMING. 


No  one  with  a  love  for  the  beautiful  in  nature  can  stand 
on  the  top  of  Prospect  Rock  on  a  summer  day,  and  gaze 
upon  the  exquisite  loveliness  of  the  Wyoming  Valley  with 
out  a  thrill  of  admiration.  Nor  will  he  wonder  that  Indians 
and  white  men  could  have  battled  with  each  other  for  the 
possession  of  so  fair  a  domain 

Its  beauty  was  doubtless  fa.  &reater  one  hundred  and 
thirty  years  ago,  before  art  had  entered  to  change  the  face 
of  nature,  when  the  forest  was  broken  only  here  and  there 
by  a  few  clearings  and  cabins,  and  the  silence  unbroken 
except  by  the  voices  of  nature.  It  doubtless  appeared  a 
Paradise  to  the  little  band  of  colonists  who  came  here  in 
1762,  and  were  made  to  suffer  so  sorely  in  the  Indian 
Massacre  of  1763.  Else,  why  did  a  second  colony  from 
Connecticut  essay  in  1 769  to  recover  what  had  been  so 
mercilessly  wrested  from  them  six  years  before  ? 

Willing  to  endure,  as  they  did,  a  series  of  disasters  for 
the  next  twenty  years  or  more,  they  settled,  cleared,  built 
and  sowed  with  the  desperate  resolve  to  retain  possession 
at  the  peril  of  life  and  fortune. 

During  the  years  preceding  the  Revolutionary  War,  from 
1769  to  1775,  so  frequent  were  the  conflicts  resulting  in 
bloodshed  within  the  town  of  Westmoreland,  that  it  may  be 
said  to  have  been  in  a  state  of  continual  war.  It  was  a 
repetition  of  the  experience  of  their  New  England  ancestors, 
who  went  to  the  plow  and  the  church  with  the  trusty  rifle 
slung  over  their  shoulder. 

Becoming  used  to  dangers  however,  the  Wyoming  people 
did  not  neglect  the  means  of  defence  needed  to  protect 
their  families.  Nor  were  they  unmindful  of  the  events  oc 
curring  beyond  the  limits  of  their  town.  The  intercourse 
kept  up  with  kindred  in  New  England  did  not  leave  them 
in  ignorance  of  the  storm  of  war  which  threatened  to  burst 
on  the  whole  of  the  thirteen  Colonies.  News  of  the  battles 


Vlll  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

of  Concord,  and  Lexington,  promptly  reached  Wyoming. 
On  the  1st  of  August,  1775,  the  proprietors  and  settlers  re 
solved  to  "  unanimously  join  our  brethren  in  America  in 
the  common  cause  of  defending  our  liberty."  And  despite 
the  land  difficulties  between  Pennamite  and  Yankee,  the 
settlers  were  thoroughly  in  earnest  in  acting  upon  the  resolu 
tions  of  the  Continental  Congress  for  the  country's  defense. 

During  the  summer  of  1774  the  people  built  five  princi 
pal  forts  for  the  defense  of  the  valley.*  Major  Eleazer 
Blackman  who  aided  the  building  of  the  fort  at  Wilkes- 
Barre,  enumerated  them  in  1838,  as  the  " Plymouth  Fort;" 
the  "  Wilkes-Barre  Fort,"  covering  nearly  half  an  acre,  en 
closing  the  public  buildings,  and  formed  by  digging  a  ditch 
in  which  logs,  sharp  at  top,  15  or  16  feet  long,  were  set  in 
on  end  closely  together,  with  the  corners  rounded  so  as  to 
flank  the  fort,  and  with  one  gate  ;  the  "Forty  Fort,"  at 
Kingston  similarly  planned,  larger  and  with  two  gates  ; 
"  Jenkins  Fort,"  in  Exeter  township,  built  around  the 
house  of  John  Jenkins,  at  the  Pittston  .Ferry,  west  side  ; 
"  Pittston  Fort,"  at  Brown's  just  above  the  Ferry,  east  side; 
and  "  Wintermoot  Fort,"  built  by  the  family  of  that  name 
near  the  head  of  the  Valley.  Beside  these  there  were  vari 
ous  block  houses  built  by  individuals.  The  Act  of  Con 
gress,  August  23,  1776,  calling  for  two  companies  of  troops 
to  serve  through  the  war  met  immediate  response  in  the 
Valley,  and  by  Sept.  17,  1776,  Captains  Durkee  and  Ran 
som  had  each  filled  the  quota  of  their  respective  command. 
The  Act  of  Congress  specified, 

"That  two  companies  on  the  Continental  establishment 
be  raised  in  the  Town  of  Westmoreland  and  stationed  in 
proper  places  for  the'  defence  of  the  inhabitants  of  said 
Town  and  parts  adjacent,  till  further  orders  of  Congress  ; 
the  commissioned  officers  of  the  said  two  companies  to  be 
immediately  appointed  by  Congress  : — 


*  "Ancient  Forts  of  the  District  of  Wyoming."     Fora  full  description 
of  the  Forts  the  reader  is  referred  to  this  exhaustive  and  admirable 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  IX 

"That  the  pay  of  the  men  to  be  raised  as  aforesaid,  com 
mence  when  they  are  armed  and  mustered,  and  that  they 
be  liable  to  serve  in  any  part  of  the  United  States,  when 
ordered  by  Congress  : — 

"That  the  said  troops  be  inlisted  to  serve  during  the  war, 
unless  sooner  discharged  by  Congress.  " 

Within  three  months  after  they  were  mustered  in,  De 
cember  12,  1776,  Congress, 

"  Resolved,  that  the  two  companies  raised  in  the  Town 
of  Westmoreland  be  ordered  to  join  general  Washington 
with  all  possible  expedition."  Thus  they  became  partici 
pators  in  the  various  actions  of  the  Continental  Army  in 
New  Jersey  during  the  winter.  But  the  Valley  was  left 
without  immediate  and  adequate  defence  against  the  com 
mon  enemy. 

Meanwhile  Connecticut  was  not  entirely  unmindful  of 
her  people  on  the  Susquehanna.  The  Assembly  passed  an 
Act  in  October,  1776,  to  complete  the  24th  Regiment  of 
Connecticut  Militia,  to  be  formed  of  Westmoreland  com 
panies,  and  in  November  erected  the  town  of  Westmore 
land  into  a  County.  The  field  officers  of  the  24th  Regi 
ment  were, 

Colonel;  Zebulon  Butler,  appointed  May,  1775,  suc 
ceeded  May,  1777,  by  Nathan  Denison  promoted  from 
Lieutenant  Colonel. 

Lieutenant  Colonel ;  Lazarus  Stewart,  promoted  from 
Captain,  May,  1777,  resigned  October,  1777,  and  succeeded 
by  George  Dorrance,  promoted  from  Captain,  October, 
1777. 

Major  ;  John  Garret,  promoted  from  Captain,  October, 
1777. 

The  Captains  of  the  Regiment  were,  James  Bidlack,  Dr. 
William  Hooker  Smith,  John  Garret,  Nathaniel  Landon, 
Asaph  Whittlesey,  Wm.  McKarachan,  Jeremiah  Blanchard, 
Rezin  Geer,  Stephen  Harding,  Robert  Carr  and  Elijah 
Farnam.  Several  of  the  companies  were  like  the  "  Re- 
formadoes,"  as  Captain  Wm.  Hooker  Smith's  company  was 
called,  formed  of  old  men.  The  young  men,  the  bone  and 


X  THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

sinew — the  chivalry  of  the  Valley — had  mainly  enlisted  in 
the  two  Congress  companies  of  Durkee  and  Ransom.  The 
defeat  of  the  patriot  forces  by  Howe  at  Brandywine,  and 
the  New  Jersey  campaign  of  1777  and  1778,  kept  these 
two  companies  with  Washington. 

The  situation  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Wyoming  Valley 
was  therefore  at  this  time  most  deplorable.  The  nearest 
settlements  within  the  limits  of  Pennsylvania  were  Easton, 
and  Bethlehem,  each  60  miles  to  the  southward,  and  Sun- 
bury,  or  Fort  Augusta,  60  miles  to  the  westward  ;  their 
people  unfriendly  to  the  Connecticut  settlers  on  the  North 
Branch  of  the  Susquehanna,  whom  they  regarded  as 
intruders. 

To  the  north  dwelt  the  Six  Nations,  as  cruel  as  they 
were  crafty,  whose  powerful  hand  had  wiped  out  in  the 
Massacre  of  1763,  the  Wyoming  settlement  of  whom  the 
Seneca  Chief,  Old  King,  or  Sayenguaraghton,  had  declared, 
"  they  have  taken  their  land  from  us."  Stimulated  by  the 
thirst  for  revenge,  and  the  reward  offered  by  the  British 
Government  for  American  scalps,  these  only  awaited  the 
fit  opportunity  to  make  a  second  descent  on  Wyoming. 
This  opportunity  soon  offered.  Colonel  Daniel  Clans,  the 
British  Superintendent  of  Indian  affairs,  in  his  manuscript 
history  of  Joseph  Brant,  written  Sept.  1 778,  and  published  for 
the  first  time  in  1 889,*  stated  that  after  the  Battle  of  Brandy- 
wine, 

"The  plan  of  Operations  for  the  ensuing  campaign  was 
laid  and  Mr.  Brant  determined  to  harass  the  Frontiers  of 
the  Mohawk  River  abt  Cherry  Valley  [illegible]  while 
Sakayenguaraghton  took  the  Opportunity  of  this  diversion 
to  cut  off  the  settlements  of  Wayoming  on  the  Susquehanna 
River."  (Bryant  20.) 

It  is  true  that  between  the  Wyoming  Valley  and  the 
Mohawk  region  there  were  here  and  there  white  settlers. 
But  these  in  1776  had  received  such  severe  treatment  at 

*  Captain  Brant  and  the  Old  King.  The  Tragedy  of  Wyoming.  A 
paper  read  before  the  Buffalo  Historical  Society,  April  I,  1889,  by 
Wra.  Clement  Bryant ;  8°,  p.  25. 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  XI 

the  hands  of  the  Wyoming  people  that  their  friendship  was 
turned  to  enmity,  and  being  Tories,  eager  to  retaliate  for 
the  wrongs  they  had  suffered,  they  made  common  cause 
with  the  Indians  against  the  inhabitants  of  the  Wyoming 
Valley,  and  were  doubtless  important  factors  in  the 
development  of  Brant's  plan  of  campaign.  But  it 
is  not  certainly  known  that  they  had  anything  to  do  with 
the  inauguration  of  the  Wyoming  expedition. 

The  Glaus  manuscript,  which  is  a  very  important 
document,  was  discovered  by  Mr.  William  Kirby,  of 
Ontario,  Canada,  among  some  2,000  other  papers 
of  the  Revolutionary  period,  in  the  possession  of 
the  great-grand  children  of  Col.  Clans.  .It  shows 
conclusively  that  while  Brant  was  a  directing  spirit 
of  the  Indian  campaign  of  1778,  acting  in  council  with  the 
Old  King,  he  was  not  himself  present  at  Wyoming,  July  3, 
1778,  and  that  Old  King,  or  Sakayenguaraghton  as  he  was 
known,  was  the  leader  of  the  Indians  who  participated  in 
the  Massacre.  In  June  of  that  year,  as  the  manuscript  states, 

"Sakayenguaraghton  assembled  his  men  at  his  Town 
Canadasege  without  calling  upon  any  white  person  to  join 
them.  However  the  Reflections  of  the  Officers  at  Niagara 
roused  Col.  Butler  to  march  to  Sakayenguaraghton's  Town 
who  at  the  same  time  reserved  the  command  of  his  men  to 
himself." 

This  statement  of  Colonel  Claus  is  significant.  It  does 
not  relieve  Col.  John  Butler  of  the  stigma  forever  fastened 
upon  his  name  by  the  Massacre,  but  it  confirms  his  asser 
tion  on  the  day  after  the  battle,  that  he  could  not  restrain 
his  Indian  allies  from  plundering  the  people.  Miner  says, 
that  in  response  to  Col.  Denison's  remonstrance,  John  But 
ler  gave  peremptory  orders  to  the  Chief;  "These  are  your 
Indians,  you  must  restrain  them;"  and  after  an  ineffectual 
effort  he  said  "I  can  do  nothing  with  them."  (Miner 

234.) 

It  was  therefore  not  Brant,  but  the  King  of  the  Senecas, 
Sayenguaraghton,  as  Colonel  Claus  shows,  who  with  a  large 
body  of  the  Six  Nations,  and  a  detachment  of  Tories  from 
Sir  John  Johnston's  Royal  Greens  under  the  command  of 


Xll  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

Colonel  John  Butler,  in  all  from  900  to  1,200  strong, 
appeared  at  the  head  of  the  Wyoming  Valley,  June  30, 
1778,  and  took  peaceable  possession  of  Fort  Wintermoot 
whose  occupants  were  always  suspected  of  Tory  proclivi 
ties.  In  Fort  Jenkins  there  were  then  only  seventeen  de 
fenders,  mostly  aged  persons,  including  the  Jenkinses,  the 
Hardings,  (Captain  Stephen,  Stephen  Jr.,  Benjamin  and 
Stukeley)  James  Hudsall,  Samuel  Morgan,  Ichabod  Philips, 
Miner  Robbins,  John  Gardner  and  Daniel  Carr. 

On  the  morning  of  the  3Oth,  eight  of  these,  armed  with 
only  two  guns,  went  to  the  field  to  work.  Returning  at 
evening  they  were  fired  on  by  the  Indians.  Two  of  the 
Hardings  were  killed.  Elisha  Harding  in  his  statement 
says,  "  they  fought  bravely  as  long  as  they  could  stand,  but 
being  overpowered  by  numbers  were  cut  to  pieces  in  the 
most  shocking  manner,  many  holes  of  the  spears  in  their 
sides,  their  arms  cut  to  pieces,  tomahawked,  scalped  and 
their  throats  cut."  Others  were  captured,  thus  leaving  but 
ten  persons  in  the  Fort;  two  of  them  were  old  men,  and 
three  boys.  On  the  2nd  of  July  when  John  Butler  de 
manded  the  surrender  of  the  Fort,  it  was  seen  that  resist 
ance  was  useless  and  the  surrender  was  made. 

Meanwhile  the  news  of  Butler's  invasion  had  aroused  the 
settlers  in  the  Valley,  who  hastily  assembled  at  Forty  Fort, 
the  largest  and  strongest  defensive  post  in  the  Valley. 
Colonel  Zebulon  Butler,  then  here  on  furlough  from  the 
Continental  Army,  was  immediately  placed  in  command. 
His  experience  as  a  soldier  for  twenty  years  made  his  ser 
vices  at  this  moment  invaluable.  His  military  career  began 
soon  after  he  had  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one.  He  was 
made  an  Ensign  by  the  Connecticut  Assembly,  May,  8, 
1758,  (although  his  diary,  still  in  the  hands  of  his  descend 
ants,  begun  June,  1757,  on*the  day  when  he  started  in  his 
first  campaign,  records  his  rank  at  that  time  as  "  Ensign.") 
Lieutenant  1759,  Captain  1760,  serving  through  the  French 
and  Indian  War,  participating  in  the  eventful  expedition  to 
Havanna,  1761.  When  the  battle  of  Lexington  occurred 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Connecticut  Assembly,  and  was  at 
once  commissioned  Colonel  of  the  24th  Connecticut  Regi- 


THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE.  Xlll 

merit.  At  this  time,  July  3,  17/8,  he  was  Lieutenant  Col 
onel  of  the  3rd  Connecticut.  Regiment,  Continental  Line, 
having  been  appointed  January  I,  1778.  He  was  promoted 
Colonel,  Nov.  15,  1778,  to  date  from  March  13,  1778.  He 
had  been  a  participator  in  the  actions  at  Danbury,  Conn., 
White  Marsh,  Pa.,  etc.,  and  had  won  the  confidence  and 
friendship  of  Washington.  He  was  said  to  have  been  a  kins 
man  of  the  Loyalist  John  Butler  commanding  the  forces 
now  invading  the  Valley,  but  it  has  not  been  proven.  On 
the  morning  of  July  3rd,  a  council  of  war  was  held  in  Forty 
Fort,  when  Colonel  Zebulon  Butler  advised  delay  until  the 
companies  of  Spalding  and  Franklin  could  reach  the  Val 
ley.  But  this  council  was  opposed  by  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Lazarus  Stewart,  then  in  command  of  Captain  McKarach- 
an's  company,  who  urged  the  desperate  measure  of  antici 
pating  the  enemy's  attack  by  a  surprise.  Colonels  Deni- 
son  and  Dorrance  coincided  with  Colonel  Butler,  but  the 
majority  agreed  with  Stewart,  (who  nobly  laid  down  his  life 
in  the  battle  that  day,)  and  Colonel  Butler  reluctantly  con 
sented. 

About  3  o'clock  that  afternoon  the  Americans  left  the 
fort  and  advanced  in  search  of  the  enemy,  their  line  of  bat 
tle  extending  from  the  marsh  to  the  river  a  distance  of 
about  1600  feet,  Colonel  Zebulon  Butler  commanding  the 
right,  and  Colonels  Denison  and  Dorrance  the  left.  The 
advance  was  made  with  spirit,  and  the  British  purposely 
fell  back  until  the  Americans  were  drawn  to  a  point  in  the 
field  where  their  left  wing,  opposed  by  the  Indians,  was  ex 
posed  to  a  flank  movement.  Then  Sayenqueraghton  with 
his  savage  warriors  gained  the  rear  of  Colonel  Denison's 
wing  and  suddenly  fell  upon  his  men.  Colonel  Denison  at 
once  perceived  his  danger,  and  ordered  Whittlesey's  com 
pany  to  fall  back  so  as  to  form  an  angle  with  the  main  line. 
The  order  was  misunderstood  as  one  to  "retreat."  The 
mistake  was  fatal,  the  falling  back  became  a  retreat,  the  re 
treat  a  panic,  and  the  massacre  followed,  the  Indians  pur 
suing  the  flying  troops  and  attacking  them  with  terrible 
slaughter.  Historians  say  that  the  British  line  "gave  way 


XIV  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

before  the  galling  fire  of  the  Americans  in  spite  of  all  their 
officers'  efforts  to  prevent  it."  It  is  a  singular  fact  that 
only  two  white  men  in  Colonel  John  Butler's  command  were 
killed,  and  the  casualties  included  about  a  dozen  Indians. 
Doubtless  the  falling  back  of  the  British  line  before  the  fire 
of  the  patriots  was  a  part  of  their  plan  of  battle.  Colonel 
Claus,  in  the  document  referred  to,  supra,  dated  Nov.  1778, 
says,  that  while  Brant  was  devastating  Schenectady  and 
Cherry  Valley, 

"Sakayenquaraghton  at  the  same  time  put  his  plan  in 
Execution,  making  every  preparation,  Disposition  and 
Maneouvre  with  his  Indus  himself  and  when  the  Rebels 
of  Wayoming  came  to  attack  him  desired  Col.  Butler  to 
keep  his  people  separate  from  his  for  fear  of  Confusion  and 
stood  the  whole  Brunt  of  the  Action  himself,  for  there  were 
but  two  white  men  killed  [illegible].  And  then  destroyed 
the  whole  Settlement  without  hurting  or  molesting  Woman 
or  Child,  wch  these  two  Chiefs,  to  their  honour  be  it  said, 
agreed  upon  before  they  [went  into]  Action  in  the 
Spring." 

This  confirms  Colonel  Stone's  statement,  viz  :  "  It  does 
not  appear  that  anything  like  a  massacre  followed  the  capit 
ulation."  And  Mr.  Jenkins  in  his  address  of  July  3,  1878, 
acknowledges  that,  "So  far  as  known  to  the  people  here, 
not  a  woman  or  child  was  slain  by  the  enemy  in  the 
Valley." 

But  it  does  not  disprove  the  fact  that  between  the  3rd 
of  July  and  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  July,  there  was  a 
massacre  of  the  male  settlers,  and  of  the  Americans  en 
gaged  in  the  conflict  of  the  3rd  of  July,  equalling  anything 
of  the  kind  in  Indian  history  for  cruelty  and  atrocity  !  The 
capitulation  of  the  Americans  occurred  on  the  4th  of  July 
at  Forty  Fort,  and  on  the  8th,  John  Butler  withdrew  from 
the  Valley  with  his  command,  and  with  227  scalps  which 
he  reported  as  taken  at  Wyoming.  These  scalps,  valued 
and  paid  for  by  the  British  at  $10  apiece,  in  all  $2,270, 
were  not  merely  the  scalps  of  men  killed  in  actual  combat. 
The  highest  estimate  of  the  slain  given  by  American  re- 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  XV 

ports,  and  certified  by  the  list  on  the  Monument,  is  182, 
leaving  forty-five  of  the  number  reported  by  John  Butler 
unaccounted  for. 

The  latest  history  of  the  Massacre  by  Colonel  Bradsby* 
states  that  "'it  is  pretty  generally  conceded  that  the  story 
of  Queen  Esther  and  the  Bloody  Rock  were  without  foun 
dation  ;  that  the  Queen  was  not  there  at  all."  That  the 
Colonel  did  not  exhaust  all  the  official  sources  of  informa 
tion  in  his  search  is  evident.  Not  only  does  ]\liner(p.  232,) 
give  proof  of  Queen  Esther's  presence  at  Wyoming  but  the 
testimony  of  the  survivors  of  the  Massacre,  Colonels 
Ransom  and  Ross,  given  in  the  following  pages,  as  to  the 
bloody  rock  is  indisputable. 

Mrs.  Jenkins,  the  widow  of  Colonel  John  Jenkins,  in  her 
statement  made  to  Congress  in  1838,  says:  "The  next 
day  (July  4th,)  she  went  down  to  the  battle  ground  *  *  * 
where  Philip  Wintermoot,  a  Tory  whom  she  was  well  ac 
quainted  with  said  to  her,  '  Look,  but  don't  seem  to  see.' 
The  dead  lay  all  around  and  there  were  places  where  half- 
burnt  legs  and  arms  showed  the  cruel  torture  our  poor 
people  must  have  suffered."  (p.  46.) 

Colonel  George  P.  Ransom,  14  years  old  at  the  time  of 
the  battle,  testifies  that  after  the  battle  "  we  went  in  with 
Colonel  Butler  and  helped  to  bury  the  dead  as  soon  as  it 
could  be  done.  The  battle  field  presented  a  distressing 
sight ;  in  a  ring  round  a  rock  there  lay  1 8  or  20  mangled 
bodies.  Prisoners  taken  on  the  field  were  placed  in  a  cir 
cle  surrounded  by  Indians,  and  a  squaw  set  to  butcher  them. 
Lebbeus  Hammond,  for  many  years  afterward  a  respect 
able  citizen  of  Tioga  County,  New  York,  was  one  of  the 
doomed.  Seeing  one  after  another  perish  by  her  bloody 
hand  he  sprang  up,  broke  through  the  circle,  outstripped 
his  pursuers  and  escaped."  (p.  50.) 

Ishmael  Bennet  testifies  that  he  was  at  Pittston  Fort 
when  it  capitulated.  "St.  John  and  Leach  were  moving 
off  with  their  goods,  St.  John  was  tomahawked,  and  Leach 

*  History  of  L/uzcrne  County,  Pennsylvania,  with  Biographical  Se 
lections,  H.  C.  Bradsby,  Editor,  1893. 


XVI  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

had  his  child  in  his  arms.  The  Indians  tomahawked  him 
and  gave  the  child  to  its  mother.  On  the  night  after  the 
battle,  seeing  fires  under  some  large  oaks  near  the  river, 
he  with  his  father,  Squire  Whitaker  and  old  Captain 
Blanchard,  went  down  to  the  river  side,  they  could  see 
naked  white  men  running  around  the  fire,  could  hear  the 
cries  of  agony,  could  see  the  savages  following  them  with 
their  spears,  it  was  a  dreadful  sight."  (p.  52.) 

General  W*m.  Ross,  aged  17  at  the  time  of  the  battle, 
testifies  to  what  he  saw  on  the  field.  "The  scene  was 
shocking.  There  were  two  rings  where  prisoners  had  been 
massacred.  There  were  according  to  his  recollection  9 
bodies  in  one  and  in  the  other  14."  (p.  61.) 

If  to  "massacre"  means,  as  Webster  defines  it,  "to  mur 
der  with  circumstances  of  cruelty,"  the  question  as  to 
whether  the  Massacre  of  Wyoming  preceded  the  capitula 
tion  of  Forty  Fort,  or  followed  it  is  hypercritical.  No  hist 
orian  has  yet  published  the  "Petition  of  the  Sufferers  of 
Wyoming,  Pennsylvania,  by  depredations  committed  by 
the  Indians  in  the  Revolutionary  War,"  presented  to  the 
25th  Congress,  containing  the  statements  of  Mrs.  Sarah 
Bidlack,  Mrs.  Huldah  Carey,  Mrs.  Bertha  Jenkins,  Mrs. 
Myers,  Mrs.  Courtright,  Edward  Inman,  Stephen  Abbot, 
Geo.  P.  Ransom,  Ishmael  Bennett,  Ebenezer  Marcy,  Jose 
Rogers,  Eleazer  Blackman,  Rev.  Benjamin  Bidlack,  Joseph 
Slocum,  Cornelius  Courtright,  Mrs.  Phoebe  Cooper,  Gen. 
Wm.  Ross,  Anderson  Dana,  Elisha  Harding.  Many  writers 
of  Wyoming  history  have  evidently  never  read  this  Petition 
with  its  overwhelming  testimony  of  19  eye-witnesses.  The 
sufferings  endured  by  the  women  and  children  on  this  fate 
ful  3d  of  July,  and  the  week  following  it,  cannot  be  esti 
mated.  Exaggerated  as  some  of  the  early  relations  of  the 
sufferings  may  have  been,  there  is  truth  enough  in  the  vari 
ous  authentic  accounts  and  records  to  justify  the  statement, 
that  language  fails  to  give  an  adequate  description  of  them. 
Could  the  survivors  of  the  Massacre  of  Wyoming  have  an 
ticipated  the  destructive  criticism  of  the  present  day,  cast 
ing  doubt  on  so  many  statements  of  fact  universallyknown 
in  1778,  they  would  assuredly  have  fortified  their  state- 


THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE  XV11 

ments  with  sworn  affidavits.  A  century  had  hot  passed 
over  the  bloody  field  of  Wyoming  ere  it  became  necessary  for 
the  grandson  of  Giles  Slocum,  in  a  letter  now  before  me,  to 
asseverate  the  truth  of  the  fratricidal  murder  of  Henry  Pencil, 
received  by  him  from  the  lips  of  his  grandfather  well  known 
as  a  man  of  cautious  and  accurate  speech.  One  can  find  no 
word  of  denial  of  the  narratives  of  Chapman  or  Miner  made 
during  the  lives  of  the  survivors  of  the  Massacre.  Nor  did 
Congress  in  rejecting  their  appeal,  in  any  way  question  the 
accuracy  of  its  statements. 

Very  strong  corroborative  evidence  of  Old  King's  lead 
ership  at  the  Massacre  has  come  into  the  writer's  hands 
since  the  above  was  written,  in  the  shape  of  an  original  do 
cument  from  Colonel  John  Butler. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Fort  Wintermoot  was  prompt 
ly  surrendered  to  the  enemy  at  the  first  demand.  This 
fort  was  in  command  of  Lieutenant  Elisha  Scovell,  of  the 
Seventh  company,  24th  Connecticut  Regiment,  Stephen 
Harding,  Captain.  Scovell  was  a  patriot,  but  the  Winter- 
moots  and  others  in  the  fort  were  Tories,  and  the  fort  was 
surrendered  to  Butler  through  their  treachery,  July  I, 
1778,  Miner  gives  on  page  2=54,  a 

"Copy  of  the  Articles  of  Capitulation,  for  Wintermoot' s 
Fort,  July  I,  1778. 

"Art.  ist.  That  Lieut.  Elisha  Scovell  surrender  the  Fort, 
with  all  the  stores,  arms  and  ammunition,  that  are  in  said 
fort,  as  well  public  as  private,  to  Major  John  Butler. 

"201.  That  the  garrison  shall  not  bear  arms  during  the 
present  contest ;  and  Major  Butler  promises  that  the  men, 
women  and  children  shall  not  be  hurt,  either  by  Indians  or 
Rangers." 

Butler  retired  from  the  Valley  on  the  8th  of  July.  On 
the  5th  he  gave  to  Lieut.  Scovell  the  following  certificate 
of  protection  from  Indians  and  Rangers.  This  important 
document  came  into  the  hands  of  the  late  Jeptha  R. 
Simms,  Esq.,  of  Fort  Plains,  New  York,  who  in  1847  pre 
sented  it  through  Hon.  Charles  Miner  to  the  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsylvania.  It  was  found  in  Mr.  Miner's 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

papers  after  his  death,  and  indeed  after  the  death  of  Mr. 
Wm.  P.  Miner.  So  that  its  existence  was  doubtless  un 
known  to  the  latter  gentleman. 

Through  the  great  kindness  of  the  Historical  Society  of 
Pennsylvania  I  have  obtained  the  privilege  of  using  it,  and 
retaining  it  in  the  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological 
Society  until  the  first  Society  shall  recall  it.  It  is  as 
follows  : 

"Weftmoreland  5th  July  1778 
This  doth  hereby  certify  that  Lieut  Elif  ha 

Scovell  has  Surrendered  his  Garrison  with  all 

his  people  to  Geovernment  and  to  remain 

as  Neuteral  during  this  prefent  conteft  with 

Great  Britain  and  America,  on  confideration 

of  which  Col.  John  Butler  Superintendent 

of  the  Six  Nations  of  Indians  their  Allies  &c, 

with  Kayingwaurto  the  Chief  of  the  Sanake 

Nation  and  the  other  Chief  Warriors  of  the 

Six  Nations  do  promife  that  they  shall  live 

in  the  quiet  pofsefsion  of  their  places  with 

their  Families  and  shall  be  daily  protected 

from  infult  as  far  as  lies  in  their  Power 

and  provided  they  should  be  taken  it  is 

our  defire  that  they  may  forthwith  be 

Releafed. 

[Seal]  JOHN  BUTLER. 

[a  turtle.]  KAYINGWAURTO  " 

Endorsed,     "This     paper    presented    through    Charles 

Miner,  Esq.,  of  Wilkes-Barre   to   the    Historical  Society  of 

the  State  of  Pennsylvania  by 

J.  R.  Simms. 

Fultonville,  Montgomery  Co.,  N.  Y.,  May  31,  1847." 
Endorsed  on  the  back  "  Convention  of  Whyoming." 
(See  frontispiece.) 

This  manuscript,  the  paper  on  which  it  is  written,  its 
bearing  on  the  terms  of  the  capitulation  of  Wintermoot 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  XIX 

Fort,  the  totem  of  the  Indian  leader  who  authorized  his 
name  to  be  attached  to  it,  carries  conviction  of  its  authen 
ticity  on  its  face.  It  shows  beyond  a  doubt  that  Sayenqua- 
raghta,  or  Kayingvvaurto,  as  Old  King  was  called,  was  in 
command  of  the  Indians  who  united  with  Col.  John  Butler 
in  the  invasion  of  the  Wyoming  Valley  in  July,  I/7&- 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Hon.  Steuben- Jenkins, 
who  clung  tenaciously  to  the  belief  that  Brant  was  the  leader 
in  the  massacre  of  Wyoming,  stated  in  his  Historical  Ad 
dress  at  the  Monument,  July  3,  1878,  that  "  five  hundred 
Indians,  commanded  by  Kayingwaurto,  a  Seneca  Chief,  and 
Capt.  Joseph  Brandt  a  Mohawk,  descended  the  Susque- 
hanna  river  in  boats,  and  landed  near  the  mouth  of  Bow 
man's  Creek,  where  they  remained  some  time  waiting  for 
the  West  Branch  party  to  join  them.  This  party  consisted 
of  about  two  hundred  Indians  under  the  command  of  Gu- 
cingerachten,  a  Seneca  Chief.  After  the  junction  of  all  the 
forces,  numbering  altogether  about  eleven  hundred,  they 
moved  forward  to  the  invasion  of  Wyoming." 

Mr.  George  S.  Conover,  (Hywesaus)  of  Geneva,  New 
York,  who  has  given  much  research  to  this  matter,  pub 
lished  in  1886,  a  paper  which  he  had  prepared  and  read 
before  the  Cayuga  Historical  Society,  March  28,  1885,  en 
titled,  "Sayenqueraghta,  King  of  the  Senecas."  In  this 
paper  he  decided  that  Sayenqueraghta  or  Old  King,  was 
not  the  leader  in  the  attack  on  the  Wyoming  settlement. 
In  November,  1886,  he  published  a  supplement  in  which 
he  states  that,  "  Information  lately  received  is  quite  con 
clusive  that  the  statement  of  March,  1885,  was  erroneous, 
and  the  fact  is  now  established  that  Old  King  was  not  only 
the  instigator  of  the  expedition  but  was  the  actual  leader 
of  the  Indians  on  the  occasion,,  and  was  a  much  greater 
man  than  history  ever  gave  him  credit  for  being." 

In  the  paper  published  in  1 886,  Mr.  Conover  prints  the  cer 
tificate  of  Butler  and  Kayingwaurto,  stating  that  Mr.  Simms 
claimed  on  the  strength  of  it  that  Kayingwaurto,  a  Seneca 
Chief  commanded  the  Indians  at  Wyoming.  But  he 
adds  : 


XX  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

"  The  name  Kayingwaurto,  although  similar  to  Gienguah- 
to  could  not  possibly  have  reference  to  Old  King.  Col 
onel  Butler  was  a  man  of  education  familiar  with  the  Mo 
hawk  dialect  and  with  the  records  of  the  proceedings  with 
the  Indians.  He  perfectly  well  knew  that  the  name  of  the 
principal  Seneca  Chief  was  Sayenqueraghta  and  would  thus 
have  written  it,  had  it  referred  to  Old  King,  as  some  have 
asserted." 

These  statements  led  me  to  write  to  William  C.  Bryant, 
Esq.,  and  also  to  Mr.  Conover,  when  the  certificate  came 
into  my  hands,  giving  them  an  account  of  it,  and  my  rea 
sons  for  believing  in  its  authenticity.  Both  gentlemen 
promptly  replied,  and  their  replies  are  so  full  and  so  much 
to  the  point,  conceding  the  claim  which  had  been  made  by 
Mr.Simms  that  I  give  both  letters  here  with  much  gratifi 
cation. 

Mr.  Bryant  wrote  me  thus  : 

Buffalo,  February  8,  1895. 
My   Dear  Sir  : — 

I  have  your  favor  of  the  1st  instant  touching  the 
name  of  the  Indian  Chief  joined  with  that  of  Colonel 
Butler  in  an  ancient  protection  Certificate.  I  have  no 
doubt  it  is  that  of  the  Old  King  who  at  the  time  was  the 
pronounced  leader  and  Chief  of  the  Iroquois  warriors,  not 
even  excepting  Brant.  He  was  one  of  nature's  great  men. 
His  name  varies  in  its  etymology,  in  our  old  treaties  it  is 
rendered,  Kay-an-der-en-qua  ;  Kayinguaraghtoh  ;  Cagen- 
quarichton  ;  Kajugariciten  ;  Sayenqueragha  ;  Sayengar- 
agta,  etc.,  etc.  The  final  syllables  in  your  word,  "waurto" 
are  supposed  to  represent  "raghta"  that  is  "Sayengaraghta" 
in  which  way  the  word  is  usually  rendered. 

Indian  words  are  usually  badly  mangled  by  the  official 
interpreters.  The  Iroquois  dialects  are  written  phonetic 
ally  generally,  and  sometimes  with  the  French  alphabet  to 
represent  nasal  and  gutteral  words  which  defy  the  powers 
of  our  English  alphabet.  The  letters  "  K"  and"^"  and 
"  G  "  and  "  W"  are  frequently  interchanged.  Then  the 
Indians  frequently  clip  or  abridge  their  words  in  rapid  pro- 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  XXI 

nunciation.  It  being  an  unwritten  language  it  was  quite 
liable  to  such  changes  and  misapprehensions.  The  initial 
syllable  "  Sa"  or  "Safe"  would  very  likely  be  dropped 
colloquially.  I  have  often  noticed  this  habit  among  care 
ful  Indian  speakers.  *  *  *  *  "  Kayingivaurto "  I  have 
little  doubt  was  intended  for  Old  King,  Sa-yen-ga-rah-ta, 
as  it  is  frequently  spelled.  Still  there  may  be  some  mis 
take,  but  that  he  signed  the  document,  or  authorized  his 
name  to  be  attached  to  it  is  very  certain.  "  Waur-to" 
"  Ragh-to  ;  "  O  has  the  short  sound  represented  by  "  toh." 
It  is  never  a  long  O  at  the  end  of  a  syllable  ;  and  is  hardly 
distinguished  from  " uh"  or  " a/i." 

Yours  very  truly, 
WM.  C.  BRYANT. 

Mr.  Conover  wrote  to  me   under  date  of  February  13, 
1895. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

I  enclose  a  leaflet  [the  supplement  referred  to  above] 
relating  to  the  "  Old  King "  matter,  which  materially 
changes  some  of  the  conclusions  I  arrived  at  in  my  pam 
phlet,  and  emphatically  settles  the  matter  as  to  who  was  the 
Indian  leader  at  Wyoming.  There  is  in  addition  a  very 
large  mass  in  the  Canadian  Library  at  Ottawa  of  original 
documents  which  throw  a  great  deal  of  light  on  this  matter, 
and  very  emphatically  and  frequently  is  Old  King's  name 
mentioned  as  being  the  principal  Indian  leader  at  Wyom 
ing  and  in  all  the  deviltry  that  was  committed  during  the 
revolution.  *  *  *  In  these  papers  the  names  Sanger- 
achta,  Sekayenguaraghton,  Sayengwaraghton,  Cayengua- 
raghton  is  directly  named  in  some  instances  as  Old  King. 
In  1779  or  1788  Lord  George  Germaine  sent  a  commission 
signed  by  the  King  appointing  Brant  as  a  Colonel  of  Ind 
ians,  and  a  "  box  with  prints,  taken  from  Lord  Warwick's 
picture  of  him,  some  of  which  you  will  send  into  his  nation, 
and  dispose  of  the  others  as  you  think  most  honourable  for 
him,  as  a  memorial  of  his  services."  Upon  the  receipt  of 
this  the  Governor  of  Canada  replied  : 


XX11  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

"  I  have  received  His  Majesty's  commission  for  Joseph 
Brant,  and  your  Lordship  observes  very  justly  that  his  con 
duct  merits  every  mark  of  our  attention  and  regard,  but 
Joseph's  situation  amongst  the  Six  Nation  Indians  is  very 
different  from  the  idea  those  who  are  not  acquainted  with 
it  must  from  his  superior  talents  conceive.  To  speak  in 
their  style,  he  has  been  veiy  lately  known  on  the  war  path. 
He  is  now  distinguishing  himself  in  that  line,  but  it  will  be 
some  time  before  he  is  acknowledged  by  them  even  upon 
a  footing  with  very  many  (as  they  conceive)  more  exper 
ienced  and  greater  warriors,  besides  the  notice  that  has 
been  taken  by  us  in  consequence  of  his  connection  with 
Sir  William  Johnson,  his  being  civilized,  and  more  particu 
larly  for  his  good  services,  has,  from  a  jealousy  paramount 
among  the  Indians,  procured  as  many  enemies  among  his 
own  people  as  friends.  Among  this  number  is  Schender- 
achto,  King  of  the  Senecas,  and  by  many  degrees  the  most 
leading,  and  the  man  of  most  consequence  and  influence, 
in  the  whole  of  the  Six  Nations,  and  by  whose  interest  and 
intrigues  Major  Butler  has  been  able  to  carry  through 
many  essential  points.  He  is  brave,  prudent  and  perfectly 
attached  to  Government,  more  strongly  so  since  the  alli 
ance  with  the  French,  to  whom  he  has  an  unconquerable 
aversion.  Were  so  great  a  mark  of  distinction  as  is  pro 
posed  for  Joseph  to  pass  him  it  might,  and  I  am  sure  it 
would,  be  productive  of  very  dangerous  consequences,  for 
which  reason  I  must  take  it  upon  me  to  suppress  the  com 
mission  and  likewise  the  pictures  until  I  have  His  Majesty's 
further  pleasure.  I  should  hope  this  affair  has  not  been  so 
publicly  mentioned  at  home  as  to  reach  Joseph's  know 
ledge,  which  from  the  past  I  find  necessary  to  adopt,  would 
equally  prejudice  the  service." 

From  what  I  have  written,  and  from  the  great  mass  of 
conclusive  evidence  that  Old  King  was  the  Indian  leader  at 
Wyoming,  and  with  all  the  knowledge  that  we  now  have  it 
is  evident  to  my  mind  that  Kayingwaurto  was  in  fact  Old 
King.  It  cannot  be  otherwise.  *  *  * 

Yours  truly 
GEO.  S,  CONOVER, 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  XX111 

In  conclusion,  Mr.  Cruikshank  in  his  paper  entitled 
"  Butler's  Rangers,  the  Revolutionary  Period,"  published 
by  the  Lundy's  Lane  Historical  Society,  Ontario,  1893, 
gives  the  name  of  the  Indian  leader  at  Wyoming  as  San- 
gcrachta.  Mr.  Conover's  interesting  pamphlet,  "  Sayen- 
queraghta,"  quoting  from  public  documents,  and  other  au 
thorities,  gives  twenty-seven  different  ways  in  which  the 
name  of  Old  King  was  written,  i.  e.  : 

Sayenqueraghta  ;  Sakayenkwaraton  ;  Sakaycnqwaraghton; 
Sakayengwaratohn  ;  Sakayengwaraghtong  ;  Soiengarahta  ; 
Sionggorochti  ;  Sayenquarahta  ;  Sakayengwalaghton  ;  Sa- 
kayenquaraghta  ;  Sakayenguaraghdon  ;  Sakayengwaraton ; 
Siangorochti  ;  Cayenquaraghta ;  Gajinquechto  ;  Guiyar- 
gwaahdo  ;  Guiyaguadoh  ;  Guyanguahta  ;  Giengwahtoh  ; 
Koyingquatah  ;  Guyahgwaahdoh  ;  Gayaeguadoh  ;  Guyan- 
guahto  ;  Giengwahtoh  ;  Guiyahgwaahdoh  ;  Kayenquaragh- 
ton  ;  Kayinguaraghtoh  :  Compare  witfr  these  the  name  in 
the  above  certificate,  KAYINGWAURTO,  and  the  identi 
fication  of  the  name  with  nearly  a  dozen  of  the  above 
names  of  Old  King  must  be  immediately  apparent. 

It  will  not  be  inappropriate  to  mention  another  fact  in 
this  connection  that  somewhat  relieves  the  name  of  Brant 
from  some  of  the  charges  of  cruelty  which  history  has 
recorded  against  him. 

The  Glaus  manuscript  is  dated  "  Niagara,  Sep.,  1778," 
and  therefore  does  not  touch  upon  the  Cherry  Valley  mass 
acre  in  which  Brant  is  always  spoken  of  as  the  leader,  and 
to  whom  all  the  atrocities  of  that  expedition  have  been  cred 
ited.  But  the  following  letter,  dictated  by  the  famous 
Molly  Brant  the  sister  of  the  Indian  Chief,  shows  that  Say 
enqueraghta,  and  not  Brant,  was  the  leader  of  the  Indians 
at  Cherry  Valley,  1778.  This  letter  has  been  very  kindly 
sent  to  me  by  William  Clement  Bryant,  Esq.,  with  his  notes 
and  permission  to  publish  it.  It  confirms  Col.  Stone's  state 
ment  of  Brant's  connection  with  Cherry  Valley.  Molly 
Brant  was  the  Indian  wife  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  of  whose 
relations  with  her  an  interesting  story  is  told  by  Col.  Stone.  * 

*  Ivife  of  Joseph  Brant,  Vol.  I,  Chapter  xvii,  369-395. 


XXIV  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

Letter  from  Captain  John  Deseronto  to  Col.  Claus,  now 
in  possession  of  William  Kirby,  Niagara,  Ontario,  trans 
lated  from  the  Mohawk  by  Isaac  Bearfoot 

My  Elder  Brother 

I  received  just  now  a  letter  from  Mary  Degonwadinti.1 
She  says  :    Tell  the  Governor    that    I    have    heard  that 
Oraghgwatrihon2  is  coming  back  again. 

She  says  :  I  want  to  hear  what  happened  to  his  band 
who  were  with  him  on  the  Lake. 

She  says  :  Governor  Asharekowa.  I  greet  and  thank 
him  much  for  what  he  did.  His  message  is  here  at  Niag 
ara.  His  words  are  very  pleasant.  Tell  him  therefore, 
Brother,  that  the  people  of  the  Long  House  are  much 
gratified. 

She  also  says  :.We  are  now  awaiting  what  will  happen 
to  the  whole  Long  House. 

About  500  left  here  October  23rd  for  Karitongeh.4  They 
said  in  8  days  Karitongeh  will  be  destroyed,  Sayenguaragh- 
don5  is  their  leader. 

To  Col.  Claus,   Montreil, 
I,  John  Desserontyon6  have  written  this, 

La  Chine,  Dec.  3d,  1778. 
(Endorsed  "Mary  Brant  to  Col.  Claus.") 

1.  "Many-against-one,"  Indian  name  of  Mary  Brant. 

2.  Identity  of  this  officer  unknown. 

3.  "Asharekowa,"  General  Haldiman,  otherwise  "Big  Sword." 

4.  "Place-of-the-oaks,"  Cherry  Valley. 

5.  "Old  King." 

6.  "Deseronto,"  "The-L,ightning-has-struck." 


THE 
ACTS    OF   THE    CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS 

FOR     THE 

DEFENCE   OF   THE   WYOMING   VALLEY,    PA., 
1776-1778. 


The  Act  of  Congress  of  August,  1776,  was  called  forth 
by  the  following  appeal  from  the  Pennsylvania  Convention  : 

"In  Convention  for  the  State  of  Pennsylvania, 
Tuesday,  August  i,  1776,  A.  M. 

The  Committee  appointed  to  consider  the  Petition  and 
Memorial  from  Northumberland  County,  reported  that  the 
facts  therein  set  forth  are  well  supported  by  evidence  ;  and 
therefore  recommend  the  immediate  consideration  thereof 
to  this  Convention. 

And  the  house  having  deliberated  thereon,  it  was 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Convention  tnat 
the  inhabitants  of  the  said  County  and  of  the  County  of 
Northampton  are  greatly  exposed  to  Indian  incursions, 
without  being  able  to  make  a  proper  defence,  on  account 
of  the  scattered  situation  of  the  inhabitants,  they  being 
settled  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  unable  to  afford  each 
other  necessary  assistance. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Convention  that 
it  will  be  proper  to  raise  and  keep  up  a  body  of  troops  for 
the  defence  of  the  frontier,  not  only  of  the  County  of  North 
umberland,  but  also  of  the  County  of  Northampton,  the 
latter  County  being  equally  exposed  to  Indian  incursions. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Convention  that 
the  defenceless  situation  of  those  parts  of  our  frontiers  be 


2  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

made  known  to  the  Congress  by  the  Delegates  of  this  State, 
and  that  they  further  inform  them  that  the  Battalion  ordered 
to  be  raised  for  the  defence  of  the  western  frontier  can 
afford  no  assistance  to  those  two  Counties,  and  that  the 
quota  of  the  Militia  of  Northampton  first  required  for  the 
Flying  Camp,  is  already  marched,  and  the  residue  of  the 
Militia  is  about  to  march,  agreeable  to  the  late  request  of 
Congress  ;  by  which  means  they  will  be  without  the  least 
defence,  and  request  Congress  to  take  these  matters  into 
consideration."  (Force,  Fifth  series,  i,  709.) 

At  the  'Sfirne  time  that  the  Pennsylvania  Convention  pre- 
-sented"  this  action  to  Congress  the  settlers  at  Wyoming, 
th:rp.yg.h  ;  Colonel 'Zebulon  Butler,  applied  to  Congress  for 
$!£'•  defence' of  'the  Town  of  Westmoreland.  In  the  Penn 
sylvania  Archives,  vi,  371,  will  be  found  a  letter  from  Hon. 
Jonathan  B.  Smith,  member  of  Congress  from  Pennsylvania, 
to  the  "President  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,"  dated 
"York  Town,  March  iQth,  1778,"  in  which  he  says: 
"Upon  an  application  from  the  settlers  at  Wyoming,  or  as 
they  call  it, 'The  Town  of  Westmoreland,' Congress  agreed 
to  establish  one  Company  of  troops  there  for  its  immediate 
defence  for  one  year.  Congress  has  expressed  this  in  the 
same  terms  in  which  a  similar  resolution  passed  two  years 
ago,  and  which  I  believe  was  adopted  on  the  consent  of 
the  Delegates  from  Connecticut  and  this  State ;  at  the  same 
time  establishments  were  formed  for  the  defence  of  the 
other  frontiers  by  establishing  other  corps  both  with  regard 
to  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia." 

AUGUST  23,    1776. 

"The  Delegates  from  Pennsylvania  and  Connecticut,  to 
whom  the  applications  from  the  Convention  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  and  the  inhabitants  settled  under  Connecticut,  in  the 
town  of  Westmoreland,  was  referred,  brought  in  a  Report 
which  was  taken  into  consideration  ; 

Whereupon,  Resolved,  That  six  companies  on  the  Con 
tinental  Establishment  be  raised  in  Pennsylvania,  and  posted 
along  the  frontiers  of  the  Counties  of  Northampton  and 
Northumberland,  and  parts  adjacent,  till  further  orders  of 
Congress. 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  3 

That  suitable  persons  be  recommended  to  Congress  by 
the  Convention  of  Pennsylvania  for  a  Lieutenant  Colonel 
and  Major,  to  command  the  said  Forces  and  that  the  said 
Convention  appoint  the  Captains  and  Subalterns. 

That  two  Companies  on  the  Continental  Establishment 
be  raised  in  the  Town  of  Westmoreland,  and  stationed  in 
proper  places  for  the  defence  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  said 
Town  and  parts  adjacent,  till  further  orders  of  Congress  ; 
the  Commissioned  Officers  of  the  said  two  Companies  to  be 
immediately  appointed  by  Congress. 

That  the  pay  of  the  men  to  be  raised  as  aforesaid,  com 
mence  when  they  are  armed  and  mustered,  and  that  they 
be  liable  to  serve  in  any  part  of  the  United  States,  when 
ordered  by  Congress. 

That  the  said  troops  be  inlisted  to  serve  during  the  war, 
unless  sooner  discharged  by  Congress."  (Journals  of  Con 
gress  ii,  306,  ii,  307.) 

MONDAY,   AUGUST  26,    1 7/6. 

"Congress  proceeded  to  the  election  of  sundry  Officers, 
when  Jonathan  Dayton  was  elected  Regimental  Paymaster 
of  Colonel  Dayton's  Battalion ;  Robert  Durkee  and  Samuel 
Ransom  were  elected  Captains  of  the  two  Companies 
ordered  to  be  raised  in  the  Town  of  Westmoreland  ;  James 
Wellis  and  Perin  Ross  First  Lieutenants  ;  Ashbel  Buck  and 
Simon  Spalding,  Second  Lieutenants,  and  Heman  Swift  and 
Matthew  Hollomback  Ensigns  of  the  said  Companies." 

AUGUST  27,    1776. 

"Resolved,  That  Zebulon  Butler  Esq.,  be  appointed  to 
supply  the  two  Companies  ordered  to  be  raised  in  the  Town 
of  Westmoreland  with  provisions  ;  and  that  he  be  allowed 
therefor  at  the  rate  of  i-i 2th  part  of  a  dollar  per  ration, 
until  further  orders  of  Congress."  (ii,  307-3  10.  ) 
AUGUST  27,  1776. 

"On  application  from  the  Convention  of  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania, 

Resolved,  That  100,000  Dollars  be  lent  to  the  said  Con 
vention  of  Pennsylvania,  to  be  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
Council  of  Safety,  the  said  State  to  be  accountable. 


4  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

Resolved,  That  the  secret  Committee  be  directed  to  send 
to  captain  Durkee  200  Ib  of  powder  and  a  proportionable 
quantity  of  lead  for  the  use  of  the  Westmoreland  Compa 
nies."  (ii  307.) 

SEPTEMBER   IO,    1/76. 

"  Resolved,  That  4,000  dollars  be  sent  to  Zebulon  Butler 
Esq  :  for  the  use  of  the  two  Companies  ordered  to  be  raised 
in  the  Town  of  Westmoreland,  he  to  be  accountable  for 
the  same,  and  that  the  money  be  delivered  to  and  forwarded 
by  the  Connecticut  delegates. 

That  major  William  Judd  be  authorized  to  muster  the 
said  companies."  (ii.  329.) 

OCTOBER  31,    1776. 

"Resolved,  That  2,000  dollars  be  advanced  to  colonel 
Zebulon  Butler  for  the  use  of  the  two  Companies  raised  in 
the  Town  of  Westmoreland,  he  to  be  accountable. 

That  leave  be  granted  to  colonel  Z.  Butler,  or  his  agent, 
to  purchase  of  the  salt  belonging  to  the  continent,  fifty 
bushels,  for  the  use  of  the  continental  troops  raised  in 
Westmoreland."  (ii,  411.) 

DECEMBER   12,    1776. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  two  companies  raised  in  the  Town  of 
Westmoreland  be  ordered  to  join  General  Washington  with 
all  possible  expedition."  (ii,  466.) 

APRIL  n,  1777. 

"Resolved,  That  175  fire  arms,  either  musquets  or  rifles, 
200  wt  powder,  800  wt  of  lead,  and  500  flints  be  sent  to 
the  town  of  Westmoreland  on  the  east  branch  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna  river,  to  the  care  of  colonel  Nathan  Dennison,  to 
be  used  by  the  malitia  there  for  the  defence  of  the  said 
town,  if  necessary ;  the  arms  to  be  returned  when  the 
service  there  will  admit  of  it."  (iii,  104.) 

MARCH  1 6,  1778. 

"Resolved,  That  one  full  company  of  foot  be  raised  in  the 
town  of  Westmoreland,  on  the  east  branch  of  the  Susque- 
hannah,  for  the  defence  of  the  said  town  and  the  settlements 
on  the  frontier  in  the  neighbourhood  thereof,  against  the 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  $ 

Indians  and  the  enemies  of  these  States  ;  the  said  company 
to  be  enlisted  to  serve  one  year  from  the  time  of  their 
enlisting,  unless  sooner  discharged  by  Congress. 

That  officers  be  commissioned  only  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  men  who  shall  be  enlisted. 

That  the  same  pay  and  rations  be  allowed  to  the  com 
pany  as  to  officers  of  the  like  rank  and  soldiers  in  the  Con 
tinental  army. 

That  the  commissary  general  of  purchases  contract  with 
a  suitable  person  to  supply  the  company  with  provisions. 

That  the  company  find  their  own  arms,  accoutrements, 
clothes  and  blankets. 

That  the  colonel,  and  in  his  absence,  the  next  command 
ing  field  officer  of  the  militia  at  the  said  town  of  Westmore 
land  be  desired  and  empowered  to  superintend  the  said 
company  ;  give  orders  relative  to  the  stations  it  shall  take  for 
the  defence  of  the  country,  or  other  proper  military  services, 
and  to  see  that  the  officers  and  men  faithfully  perform  their 
duty  and  on  failure  to  give  notice  thereof  to  the  board  of 
war."  (iv,  113.) 


TUESDAY,  JUNE  23, 

''The  board  of  war  report,  "that  the  two  independent 
companies  raised  in  the  town  of  Westmoreland,  lately 
commanded  by  the  captains  Durkee  and  Ransom,  are 
reduced  by  various  causes  to  about  86  non-commissioned 
officers  and  privates  ;  and  that  there  is  no  chance  of  their 
being  completed  to  the  establishment;  that  the  said  com 
panies  are  now  detached  from  the  main  army  for  the  defence 
of  the  frontiers  ;  "  whereupon, 

Resolved,  That  the  two  independent  companies,  lately 
commanded  by  the  captains  Durkee  and  Ransom,  which 
were  raised  in  the  town  of  Westmoreland,  be  united  and 
form  one  company  : 

That  Lieutenant  Simon  Spalding  be  appointed  captain, 
and  Lieutenants  Timothy  Pierce  and  Phineas  Pierce,  lieu 
tenants  of  said  company;  the  said  lieutenants  to  rank, 


6  THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

Timothy  Pierce  from  the  i6th  of  Jan.  last,  and  Phineas 
Pierce  from  the  1st  of  April  last,  the  times  they  were 
respectively  appointed  to  act  as  lieutenants  in  the  said 
companies. 

A  report  from  the  board  of  war  was  read;  whereupon, 
Resolved,  That  each  non-commissioned  officer  and  soldier 
who  hath  enlisted  or  shall  enlist  in  the  company  of  foot 
ordered  to  be  raised  in  the  town  of  Westmoreland,  on  the 
east  branch  of  the  Susquehanna,  by  the  resolution  of  the 
1 6th  of  March  last,  shall  receive  the  sums  for  finding  his 
own  arms,  accoutrements  and  blankets,  as  were  allowed  by 
a  resolve  of  the  i6th  inst.  to  the  non-commissioned  officers 
and  soldiers  of  the  two  regiments  raising  in  Virginia  and 
Pennsylvania,  to  serve  for  one  year;  the  said  sums  to  be 
paid  them  immediately  upon  their  passing  muster  before 
the  colonel,  or  in  his  absence,  the  next  commanding  officer 
of  the  militia  in  the  said  town,  and  producing  the  necessary 
articles  of  equipment  mentioned  in  the  said  resolve  of  the 
1 6th  inst. 

That  the  sum  of  1,440  dollars  be  granted  to  the  board  of 
war,  to  be  issued  to  Col.  Dennison,  of  Westmoreland  afore 
said,  to  enable  him  to  pay  the  allowances  above-mentioned ; 
he  to  be  accountable  for  the  same."  (iv,  263,  264.) 


THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE. 


25TH  CONGRESS,         [DOC.  No.  52.]         Ho.  OF  REPS. 
2d  Session. 

WYOMING  CLAIMS— REVOLUTION. 


PETITION 

OF 

The  Sufferers  at  Wyoming,  During  the  Revolutionary  War, 
for  relief. 


DECEMBER  29,  1837. 

Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Revolutionary  Claims. 


To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  in  Congress  Assembled: 

By  order  of  a  public  meeting  held  at  Wilkesbarre,  Luzerne 
county,  Pennsylvania,  the  subscribers  present  you  the  fol 
lowing  memorial  in  behalf  of  the  Wyoming  sufferers  during 
the  revolutionary  war,  their  heirs,  widows,  and  legal  repre 
sentatives. 

The  circumstances  of  the  invasion  of  the  Wyoming  settle 
ment  by  the  British  and  Indians,  the  battle  and  massacre, 
the  entire  expulsion  of  the  inhabitants,  the  conflagration  of 
their  dwellings,  and  the  devastation  of  their  fields,  are  pre 
sumed  to  be  familiar  to  all  of  you.  In  the  annals  of  that 
fearful  but  glorious  conflict,  not  a  page  recounts  a  livelier 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  or  depicts  a  bloodier  field, 
deeper  sufferings,  or  more  extensive  losses  of  property. 
Every  historian  who  has  written  an  account  of  the  revolu 
tionary  war  has  told  the  story  of  her  sufferings.  All 
America  and  Europe  were  filled,  at  the  time,  with  the 
melancholy  details.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  awaken  your 
sympathies  ;  but  so  much  we  thought  proper  to  say  by  way 


8  THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

of  introduction.  Our  appeal  shall  be  made  to  your  judg 
ments.  We  would  address  facts  to  your  reason,  and  argu 
ments  to  your  understanding;  looking  to  your  deliberate 
iudgments  for  a  favorable  response  to  our  petition. 

The  Wyoming  settlements  were  made  under  the  authority 
of  Connecticut.  A  town  called  Westmoreland  was  erected 
here,  attached  to  the  county  of  Litchfield,  near  three 
hundred  miles  distant ;  the  laws  of  Connecticut  prevailed ; 
civil  and  military  officers  derived  their  commissions  from 
that  State  ;  representatives  were  sent  from  here  to  her 
Legislature ;  and  the  troops  raised  in  Westmoreland  were 
part  of  the  Connecticut  line  on  the  continental  establish 
ment.  Several  towns  of  Connecticut  were  burnt  by  the 
enemy  ;  New  London,  Danbury,  Westmoreland,  Fairfield, 
Groton,  and  others,  were  among  the  number.  Connecticut 
has  made  all  of  those  towns,  except  one,  full  and  ample 
remuneration  for  their  losses.  Westmoreland,  or  Wyoming, 
alone,  received  nothing.  Five  hundred  thousand  acres  of 
land,  in  the  Western  Reserve,  were  granted  in  1792  to 
those  towns,  valued  at  6s.  %d.  (a  French  crown,)  per  acre 
— amounting  to  between  five  and  six  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  This  was  a  beneficent  act  on  the  part  of  Connec 
ticut,  and  will  redound,  in  all  future  time,  to  her  honor.  Was 
not  the  grant  also  just,  as  well  as  beneficent  ?  Did  not  the 
recipients  deserve,  were  they  not  entitled  to,  this  grant?  Was 
not  their  claim  founded  in  the  principles  of  eternal  equity 
and  everlasting  justice?  Who  ever  heard  a  doubt  expressed 
of  the  righteousness  of  their  claim  ?  If,  then,  it  was  just 
and  equitable  that  New  London,  Danbury,  Fairfield,  and 
those  other  towns,  should  be  indemnified,  is  it  not  clear  as 
demonstration,  that  Westmoreland  or  Wyoming,  where  a 
heavier  sacrifice  of  life,  far  deeper  personal  sufferings,  and 
more  extensive  losses,  were  sustained,  was  also  entitled  to 
remuneration  ? 

We  anticipate  here  that  honorable  members  may  say, 
"Your  claim  is  doubtless  just;  standing  on  its  own  merits 
of  services,  sufferings,  and  losses,  it  is  a  strong  claim ;  and 
when  it  is  considered  relatively  to  those  other  towns  of 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  9 

Connecticut  provided  for,  it  appears  of  unquestionable 
validity.  But  when  your  parent  State  was  making  so  ample 
provision  for  others  similarly  situated,  why  did  not  you 
not  then  apply  to  her  for  aid  ?  While  we  admit  the  claim 
just,  we  cannot  see,  as  yet,  how  the  General  Government 
can  be  held  liable  to  make  you  compensation."  To  this 
we  would  reply,  with  all  truth  and  simplicity  : 

The  reason  why  no  provision  was  made  for  Westmore 
land  is  simple,  and  easily  told.  About  the  conclusion  of 
the  war,  by  the  decree  of  Trenton,  which  settled  the  long- 
existing  controversy  in  respect  to  these  lands,  the  jurisdic 
tion  over  Westmoreland  ceased  in  Connecticut,  and  was 
transferred  to  Pennsylvania.  It  was  not  until  about  ten 
years  after  this  event,  that  Connecticut  so  far  recovered  her 
resources  as  to  be  able  to  make  remuneration  to  those 
suffering  towns  which  she  indemnified.  Being  no  longer  a 
portion  of  the  State,  no  provision  was  made  for  us,  as  there 
doubtless  would  have  been,  had  Westmoreland  continued 
a  component  part  of  Connecticut. 

Pennsylvania,  with  a  liberality  and  public  spirit  most 
honorable  to  her  patriotism  and  justice,  has  granted  ample 
rewards  to  officers  and  soldiers  of  her  line,  and  to  others 
whose  merits  and  sufferings  in  the  cause  commended  them 
to  her  consideration.  Not  having  been  harmoniously  a 
part  of  Pennsylvania,  but  maintaining  an  attitude  of  oppo 
sition,  if  not  of  hostility,  during,  and  indeed  for  some  time 
after  the  war,  it  could  not  be  asked  or  expected  that  she 
would  make  good  the  losses,  or  grant  rewards  for  the  suffer 
ings,  of  the  Wyoming  people.  So  that,  to  use  a  common 
but  expressive  phrase,  "  between  two  stools  we  came  to  the 
ground."  Moreover,  the  disasters  of  the  war  utterly  pros 
trated  the  people  of  Wyoming.  Most  of  our  natural 
guardians  and  protectors  were  slain,  and  amongst  them 
many  of  our  chief  men ;  widows  and  orphans,  aged  or  very 
young  men,  destitute  and  poor,  constituted  our  chief  popu 
lation.  The  unhappy  dispute  (since  so  satisfactorily  adjusted 
by  our  present  parent  and  protector,  noble  and  liberal 
Pennsylvania)  still  continued,  as  you  doubtless  know,  to 


IO  THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

perplex  and  impoverish  us.  To  obtain  "this  day  our  daily 
bread"  occupied  the  thoughts  and  exertions  of  us  all,  and 
no  application  was  made  to  Connecticut  to  share  in  the 
bounty  she  was  so  liberally  dispensing.  But  we  ask  your 
patience  while  we  show,  as  we  are  sure  we  can,  that  to  the 
General  Government  we  have  a  right  fairly  to  look  for  aid. 
The  services  performed,  the  sufferings  endured,  and  the 
losses  sustained,  were  all  in  the  public  service,  for  the 
general  cause.  They  all  tended  to  the  great  end  of  accom 
plishing  national  independence,  which  has  brought  pros 
perity  so  unbounded  to  our  beloved  country.  All  the 
debts  founded  on  contract  having  been  paid,  Congress  have 
recently,  with  just  and  liberal  hand,  been  meting  out  to 
claimants,  not  by  contract,  but  in  equity,  liberal  rewards  for 
services  performed,  sufferings  endured,  or  losses  sustained. 
In  those  three  particulars,  no  claim  can  be  stronger  than 
that  of  Wyoming. 

Moreover,  there  is  a  strong  point  which  we  mean  to 
indicate,  but  not  now  to  argue  at  length,  which  statesmen, 
familiar  with  the  springs  of  events,  well  know  to  have  truth 
for  its  foundation.  About  the  close  of  the  war,  when  the 
issue  was  certain,  and  a  great  empire  of  independent  and 
powerful  sovereignties  was  taking  rank  among  the  nations, 
it  was  deemed  of  the  utmost  importance  that  all  disputes 
about  territory  and  jurisdiction  should  be  put  to  rest. 
Powerful  States  were  to  be  conciliated  by  the  favorable 
adjustment  of  their  claims.  Indemnifications  were  to  be 
allowed  to  others.  Little  would  those  statesmen  and 
patriots  have  deserved  the  award  we  all  yield  their  wisdom 
and  sagacity,  if  they  had  not  adopted  proper  measures  to 
harmonize  conflicting  interests,  and  to  consolidate  the 
Union.  How  far  the  national  policy  we  speak  of  influenced 
the  various  measures  and  final  decision  which  confirmed  to 
Pennsylvania  the  whole  extent  of  her  chartered  limits,  and 
granted  to  Connecticut  an  indemnification  in  Ohio,  we  need 
not  here  demonstrate.  Certainly  that  policy  was,  in  a 
national  point  of  view,  wise — a  benefit  to  Connecticut — a 
blessing  to  Pennsylvania ;  and  if,  for  the  common  good,  it 


THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE.  I  I 

excluded  Westmoreland  from  a  participation  with  other 
towns  indemnified,  is  it  not  right  that  the  common  purse 
should  afford  her  such  remuneration  as  may  be  just? 

Again:  the  old  Connecticut  Congress  passed  a  resolution, 
October  10,  1780,  in  which  it  was  declared,  in  reference  to 
the  unappropriated  lands  which  may  be  ceded  to  the  United 
States,  "that  the  necessary  and  reasonable  expenses  which 
any  particular  State  shall  have  incurred,  since  the  com 
mencement  of  the  present  war,  in  subduing  any  British 
posts,  or  in  maintaining  forts  and  garrisons  within  and  for 
the  defence,  or  in  acquiring  any  part  of  the  territory  that 
may  be  ceded  or  relinquished  to  the  United  States,  shall  be 
reimbursed."  Although  the  words  of  the  resolution  do  not 
reach  us,  we  do  respectfully  suggest  that  its  spirit  makes 
strongly  in  favor  of  the  Wyoming  claim. 

During  the  revolutionary  war ,  Wyoming  stood  an  extreme 
frontier,  an  outpost,  on  the  borders  of  the  settlement  of  the 
savage  enemy.  To  Sunbury,  the  nearest  inhabited  place 
down  the  Susquehanna,  it  was  sixty  miles ;  through  the 
Great  Swamp  it  was  sixty  miles,  a  pathless  wilderness,  to 
Bethlehem  or  Easton.  The  warlike  and  bloody  Mohawks, 
Senecas,  and  others,  of  the  Six  Nations,  occupied  all  the 
upper  branches  of  the  Susquehanna,  and  were  within  a  few 
hours'  sail  of  our  settlements,  which  were  exposed  to  con 
stant  attacks.  Our  pathways  were  ambushed,  and  midnight 
glared  with  the  constant  conflagration  of  our  dwellings. 

Thus  exposed,  we  stood  as  a  shield  to  all  the  settlements 
below  us.  In  this  situation,  every  man  might  justly  be 
considered  as  on  duty  continually.  Every  man  might  well 
be  considered  as  enlisted  for  and  during  the  whole  war. 
There  was  no  peace,  no  security,  at  Wyoming.  The  hus 
bandman  took  his  hoe  in  one  hand,  and  his  rifle  in  the 
other,  to  the  cornfield.  Several  forts  were  built,  and  garri 
sons  steadily  maintained.  Such  was  the  case  with  Winter- 
moot's  fort,  Forty  fort,  and  the  fort  at  Wilkesbarre.  This 
was  done  by  the  people,  by  the  militia,  by  common  consent 


I  2  THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

and  common  exertion.*  Three  hundred  miles  from  Con 
necticut,  it  was  vain  to  ask  assistance  from  her,  exerting 
every  nerve  as  she  was  for  the  common  defence,  and  the 
protection  of  her  extensive  and  exposed  seaboard.  If 
States  which  ceded  lands  were  entitled  to  be  reimbursed 
for  keeping  up  forts,  we  submit  whether  a  people  situated 
like  those  of  Wyoming  may  not  properly  ask  for  reimburse 
ment — since  not  only  themselves,  but  a  wide  extent  of 
country  below,  slept  in  comparative  security  through  their 
position  and  exertions. 

But  Congress  early  saw  and  felt  for  the  extremely  exposed 
situation  of  Wyoming.  On  the  23d  August,  1/76,  resolu 
tions  were  entered  into,  of  which  one  is  in  these  words  : 
"That  two  companies  on  the  continental  establishment  be 
raised  in  the  town  of  Westmoreland,  and  stationed  in  proper 
places,  foi  the  defence  of  the  inhabitants  of  said  toivn,  and 
parts  adjacent,  till  further  orders  of  Congress."  The  Monday 
following,  August  26th,  "Congress  proceeded  to  the  election 
of  sundry  officers,  when  Robert  Durkee  and  Samuel  Ran 
som  were  chosen  captains  of  the  two  companies  ordered  to 
be  raised  in  the  town  of  Westmoreland ;  James  Wells  and 
Perrin  Ross,  first  lieutenants;  Heman  Swift  and  Matthias 
Hollenback,  ensigns  of  said  companies." 

*  Extract  from  Westmoreland  Records. 

"At  a  town  meeting  legally  warned  and  held  in  Westmoreland,  in 
"  Wilkesbarre  district,  August  ye  24th,  1776, 

"  Col.  Butler  was  chosen  Moderator  for  ye  work  of  ye  day. 

"Voted — It  is  the  opinion  of  this  meeting  that  it  now  becomes 
"  necessary  for  ye  inhabitants  of  this  Town  to  erect  suitable  fort  or 
"  forts,  as  a  defence  against  our  common  enemy. 

"August  28th,  1776,  this  meeting  is  opened  and  held  by  adjourn- 
"ment. 

"Voted — That  y.e  three  Field  Officers  of  ye  Regiment  in  this  Town 
"be  appointed  as  a  committee  to  view  the  most  convenient  places  in 
"said  Town  for  building  forts  for  ye  defence  of  said  Town,  and 
"  determine  on  so  me  particular  spot  or  place  or  places  in  each  district 
"for  that  purpose,  and  mark  out  the  same. 

"Voted — That  the  above  said  committee  do  recommend  it  to  the 
"people  in  each  part  as  shall  be  set  off  by  them  to  belong  to  any  fort, 
"to  proceed  forthwith  in  building  said  forts,  &c.,  without  either  fee 
"  or  reward  from  ye  said  Town." 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  13 

Thus  the  General  Government,  the  Continental  Congress, 
took  the  special  defence  of  Wyoming  into  their  hands. 
They  were  satisfied,  it  seems,  that  the  militia,  however  well 
organized,  were  not  sufficient  for  its  defence.  A  regular 
force  was  deemed  necessary,  and  orders  were  issued  for 
raising  that  force,  for  the  special  defence  of  that  town  and 
parts  adjacent.  By  another  clause  it  was  provided  that  the 
men  should  be  liable  to  serve  in  any  other  part  of  the 
United  States.  This  provision,  notwithstanding  they  were 
raised  expressly  "for  the  defence  of  the  inhabitants"  &c., 
was  perfectly  proper;  for  if  the  savages  on  the  upper  waters 
of  the  Susquehanna  should  be  driven  off  by  a  force  from 
Albany,  or  elsewhere,  so  that  the  source  of  impending 
danger  should  be  removed,  there  was  nothing  more  proper 
than  that  these  companies,  being  no  longer  needed  for  the 
defence  of  the  inhabitants,  should  be  marched  elsewhere, 
at  the  discretion  of  Congress.  Imperious  necessity,  how 
ever,  almost  immediately  induced  Congress,  without  the 
implied  contingency  of  the  proximate  enemy  being  removed, 
to  call  for  their  services  in  another  quarter.  On  the  25th 
October,  1776,  the  battle  of  White  Plains  was  fought,  and 
Washington  retreated.  November  16,  Fort  Washington 
surrendered  to  the  enemy,  who  immediately  pushed  his 
victorious  troops  in  pursuit  of  the  American  army,  and  on 
the  2d  December  His  Excellency  retired  through  Prince 
ton  to  Trenton,  Lord  Cornwallis  pushing  upon  his  rear. 
"The  army,"  says  Marshall,  "at  no  time  during  the  retreat, 
exceeded  four  thousand  men,  and  on  reaching  the  Delaware 
was  reduced  to  less  than  three  thousand,  of  whom  not  quite 
one-third  were  militia  of  New  Jersey."  "The  commander- 
in-chief  found  himself  at  the  head  of  this  small  band  of 
soldiers,  dispirited  by  their  losses  and  fatigues,  retreating, 
almost  naked  and  barefooted,  in  the  cold  of  November  and 
December,  before  a  numerous,  well  appointed,  and  victori 
ous  army." 

On  the  1 2th  December  Congress  passed  a  resolution, 
setting  forth,  that  "whereas  the  movements  of  the  enemy 
have  now  rendered  this  city  (Philadelphia)  the  seat  of  war," 


14  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

&c.,  they  resolve  to  adjourn  to  meet  at  Baltimore.  The 
SAME  DAY  they  adopted  the  following  resolution  :  "  Resolved, 
that  the  two  companies  raised  in  the  town  of  Westmoreland 
be  ordered  to  join  General  Washington  with  all  possible 
expedition" 

Thus,  within  less  than  four  months  from  the  first  order 
to  raise  companies,  and  probably  within  less  than  ninety 
days  from  their  enlistment  and  organization,  the  extreme 
and  pressing  exigence  of  the  general  cause  required  that 
they  should  be  withdrawn  from  the  country  they  were 
raised  to  defend,  to  aid  Washington  in  resisting  the  alarm 
ing  advances  of  the  enemy. 

The  consequence  which  followed  it  required  but  little 
sagacity  to  foresee.  Stimulated  to  revenge  by  the  aid  sent 
from  Wyoming  to  Washington,  incited  by  the  consequent 
weakness  of  the  settlements  to  attack  them,  and  urged  by 
policy  to  compel  the  withdrawal  from  the  commander-in- 
chief  of  part  of  his  men,  by  forcing  them  home  to  defend 
their  own  firesides,  the  enemy  were  not  long  in  planning 
their  attack. 

The  British  having  obtained  possession  of  Philadelphia, 
inevitable  necessity  did  not  allow  His  Excellency  to  dispense 
with  the  services  of  the  Westmoreland  companies ;  but  the 
reiterated  rumors  of  preparation  to  attack  Wyoming  again 
engaged  the  attention  of  Congress.  They  saw,  felt,  and 
acknowledged,  their  exposed  situation ;  but  while  the  heart 
was  assailed,  and  the  whole  force  of  the  country  was  con 
centrated  for  its  protection,  little  aid  but  encouraging  words 
could  be  afforded  to  the  threatened  extremities.  In  March, 
1778,  about  ninety  days  before  the  invasion,  Congress 
resolved  "That  one  full  company  of  foot  be  raised  in  the 
town  of  Westmoreland,  on  the  East  Branch  of  Susquehanna, 
for  the  defence  of  the  said  town,  and  the  settlements  on  the 
frontiers  and  in  the  neighborhood  thereof,  against  the  Indians 
and  other  enemies  of  these  States :  the  said  company  to  be 
enlisted  for  one  year  from  the  time  of  their  enlisting,  unless 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  1$ 

sooner  discharged  by  Congress."  That  "t/ie  company  find 
their  oiun  arms,  accoutrements,  clothes,  and  blankets:'"  and 
provision  was  made  that  these  should  be  paid  for. 

Thus  a  third  company  was  raised  in  that  infant  and  small 
settlement,  having  to  clothe  and  arm  themselves,  if  they 
could,  and  an  exhausted  Treasury  promised  to  repay  the 
charge.  This  company  was  in  the  battle,  and  almost  liter- 
erally  annihilated. 

The  number  of  men  which  comprised  the  first  two  com 
panies,  when  raised  in  1776,  we  are  not  able  to  state  ;  but 
in  June,  1778,  by  a  resolution  of  Congress,  it  appears  that 
there  were  then  86  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates. 
A  number,  it  is  known,  were  slain  in  battle,  in  the  Jerseys, 
and  some  died  in  the  service.  At  the  time  mentioned,  the 
two  companies  were  consolidated  into  one  ;  Simon  Spald- 
ing  appointed  captain,  Timothy  Pierce  and  Phineas  Pierce, 
lieutenants,  and  they  were  detached  for  the  defence  of  the 
frontiers,  but  did  not  arrive  until  the  settlement  was  cut  off 
Captain  Ransom  and  Captain  Durkee,  Lieutenants  Ross 
and  Wells,  of  the  original  companies,  at  home  on  furlough, 
were  in  the  battle,  and  were  all  slain. 

On  the  1st  of  July,  1778,  Colonel  John  Butler,  of  the 
British  army,  with  400  men,  regulars  and  tories,  and  with 
500  Indian  warriors,  entered  the  valley  of  Wyoming. 
Rumors  of  the  meditated  irruption  had  preceded  them,  and 
pressing  solicitations  for  relief  had  been  sent  to  headquarters. 
A  number  of  the  officers  of  the  two  companies  had  returned 
on  furlough.  The  militia  were  mustered.  Old  men  and 
boys  took  their  muskets.  Retirement  or  flight  was  impos 
sible.  There  seemed  no  security  but  in  victory.  Unequal 
as  was  the  conflict,  and  hopeless  in  the  eye  of  prudence; 
the  young  athletic  men  fit  to  bear  ams,  and  raised  for  their 
special  defence,  being  absent  with  the  main  army ;  yet  the 
inhabitants,  looking  to  their  dependent  wives  and  little  ones, 
took  counsel  of  their  courage,  and  resolved  to  give  the 
enemy  battle.  On  the  3d  of  July,  about  400  men,  under 
the  command  of  Colonel  Zebulon  Butler,  marched  out  to 
meet  the  British  and  their  savage  allies ;  being  more  than 


1 6  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

double  their  numbers.  On  the  right  wing  the  conflict  was 
sharply  contested  for  some  time,  and  the  enemy  gave  way. 
On  the  left,  outflanked  by  the  savages,  the  men  fought  and 
fell  rapidly,  till  an  order  was  given  to  fall  back  and  present 
a  longer  front  to  the  enemy  ;  a  manoevre  which  could  not 
be  executed  under  the  destructive  fire  of  the  Indian  rifles. 
Confusion  ensued,  a  disastrous  retreat  followed,  and  a  most 
cruel  massacre  consummated  the  bloody  tragedy.  We 
cannot  dwell  on  the  battle  and  the  subsequent  horrors.  It 
would  be  useless  if  we  could.  Brother  fell  by  the  side  of 
brother ;  fathers  and  sons  perished  in  the  same  field.  More 
than  half  our  little  army  were  slain  ;  many  of  the  rest  were 
wounded ;  and  the  whole  settlement — very  aged  men  and 
helpless  children,  widows  and  orphans,  were  now  exposed, 
without  protection,  to  the  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife.  In 
utter  confusion  and  distress  they  all  fled — some  in  boats 
down  the  river,  but  most  on  foot  through  the  wilderness. 
Your  imaginations  must  conceive,  for  words  cannot  paint, 
the  unequalled  misery  of  their  situation.  In  the  simplicity 
of  truth  we  will  state  two  instances — those  of  the  chairman 
and  secretary  of  this  meeting. 

Perrin  and  Jeremiah  Ross,  brothers  of  the  chairman, 
were  in  the  battle,  and  both  fell.  Mr.  Ross,  then  a  lad,  his 
father  being  dead,  was  the  only  male  of  the  family  remain 
ing.  His  mother,  six  sisters,  the  widow  of  his  brother  Perrin 
and  her  five  orphan  children,  fled — such  was  the  terror  and 
confusion — not  together,  but  in  three  separate  parties  ;  two 
down  the  river  to  Harrisburg,  and  thence  to  Orange  county, 
New  York ;  two  to  Nescopeck,  and  thence  to  Fort  Allen ; 
the  rest  by  a  more  eastern  route. 

The  father  of  Mr.  Dana  had  then  recently  returned  from 
Hartford,  where  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  Assembly  of 
Connecticut,  from  the  town  of  Westmoreland.  He  was  in 
the  battle,  and  Mr.  Whiting,  a  young  man  who  had  a  few 
months  before  married  his  daughter,  was  also  in  the  battle. 
Both  were  slain.  Anderson  Dana,  our  Secretary,  then  a 
lad  of  thirteen,  his  widowed  mother  and  widowed  sister 
(the  latter  in  delicate  health)  with  thirteen  others,  of  whom 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  I/ 

he  was  the  eldest  male — having  one  pack-horse  to  carry 
the  few  things  they  could  hastily  gather,  set  out  through 
the  wilderness  on  foot  to  join  their  friends  three  hundred 
miles  distant,  in  Ashford,  Connecticut,  from  whence  they 
originally  came.  Death  and  desolation  were  behind, them; 
before  them,  hunger,  and  sorrow,  and  despair.  They  were 
twenty  days  on  their  journey,  living  chiefly  on  charity. 
Several  women  of  different  parties  of  fugitives,  gave  birth 
to  children  on  their  way,  who  were  indeed 

"  Children  of  misery,  baptized  in  tears." 

In  the  Valley,-  the  demon  of  destruction  completed  his 
work.  Scarcely  an  inhabitant  remained.  Every  house  was 
rifled  and  burnt.  The  sweep  was  universal;  everything 
was  destroyed.  The  cattle  driven  away,  and  the  harvests 
laid  waste.  War  and  woe  never  looked  upon  a  scene  of  such 
utter  sorrow  and  desolation  ! 

Gentlemen,  is  it  not  plain  that  these  disasters  and  suffer 
ings  befell  the  inhabitants  from  their  exertions  in  the  cause 
of  their  country?  Is  it  not  manifest  that  the  withdrawing 
of  the  two  companies  raised  for  the  defence  of  trie  people 
occasioned  the  attack,  massacre,  and  ruin  that  followed? 
And  is  it  not  right,  just,  now,  when  the  public  Treasury  is 
full,  and  all  the  other  equitable  revolutionary  claims  have 
been  recognized  by  Congress,  that  something  should  be 
granted  to  the  old  Wyoming  sufferers  and  their  heirs?  Why 
should  all  receive  bounty  or  justice,  and  we,  tenfold  suf 
ferers,  obtain  nothing?  In  honor  to  the  dead,  as  well  as 
justice  to  the  living,  we  ask  it  at  your  hands.  Noble  Virginia 
granted  Colonel  George  Rogers  Clarke  and  his  regiment, 
who  marched  with  him  to  Kaskaskias  and  St.  Vincent,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres  of  land  on  the  Ohio. 
Should  not  Wyoming  receive  as  much?  The  portion  of 
New  London  must  have  exceeded  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand.  Ought  not  Wyoming  to  receive  as  much? 

Having  no  other  resting  place,  the  survivors  were  obliged 
to  return,  desolate  and  melancholy  as  were  their  homes. 
The  battle  field  was  still  strewed  with  the  unburied  slain; 


1 8  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

and  their  remains,  as  soon  as  they  could  be  approached  in 
that  sultry  season,  were  gathered  and  interred  with  affec 
tionate  and  pious  care. 

*  After  their  return,  the  savages  kept  war  parties  around 
the  settlements,  and  many  were  murdered.  Jonathan  Slocum 
and  his  Wife's  father,  Isaac  Tripp,  Esq.,  who  had  been  a 
representative  to  the  Connecticut  Assembly,  from  West 
moreland,  were  butchered  and  scalped  together,  near  the 
Wilkesbarre  fort;  and  shortly  before,  another  party  of 
savages  murdered  two  children  near  the  door  of  Mr. 
Slocum,  and  took  captive  Frances,  their  daughter,  aged 
then  about  five  years.  After  the  war,  diligent  search  through 
all  the  Indian  country,  to  Detroit,  was  made  by  her  broth 
ers,  for  their  lost  sister,  but  in  vain.  After  all  hope  was 
extinguished,  recently,  within  the  present  year,  the  sister, 
now  nearly  seventy  years  of  age,  has  been  found.  Not 
able  to  speak  a  word  of  our  language,  a  long  life  of  habit 
has  identified  her  with  the  Indians ;  and  though  there  is  a 
melancholy  pleasure  in  the  recognition,  and  the  certainty 
of  her  fate,  yet  it  is  the  joy  of  grief,  for  the  grave  could 
scarcely  have  more  effectually  separated  her  from  her  friends. 
Such  were  among  the  deep  woes  and  sorrows  of  Wyoming ! 
There  was  no  peace  till  General  Sullivan,  aided  by  Generals 
Clinton,  Poor,  Maxwell,  Hand,  Colonel  Proctor,  with  his 
artillery,  and  others,  invaded  the  Indian  country  in  1779, 
and  drove  the  savages  to  Niagara. 

By  a  resolution  of  Congress  of  March  14,  1777,  it  was 
ordered  "That  General  Washington  be  informed  that  no 
provision  has  been  made  by  Congress  for  the  support  of 
widows  whose  husbands  have  been  slain  in  battle." 

At  a  later  day,  when  the  distresses  of  war  were  more 
fully  realized,  better  thoughts  prevailed,  and,  August  16, 
1 779,  the  following  just  and  beautiful  resolution  was  adopted 
by  an  almost  unanimous  vote:  "That  it  be,  and  hereby  is, 
recommended  to  the  several  States  to  make  such  provision 

*This  and  the  following  five  paragraphs  with  the  foot  note  are 
omitted  in  Miner's  History,  Appendix,  pp.  75-80. 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  19 

for  the  widows  of  such  of  their  officers,  and  such  of  the 
soldiers  enlisted  for  the  war,  as  have  died,  or  may  die,  in 
the  service,  as  shall  secure  to  them  the  sweets  of  that  liberty 
for  the  attainment  of  which  the  husbands  have  so  nobly 
laid  down  their  lives." 

By  a  resolution  of  August  24,  1780,  the  resolution  of 
May,  1778,  granting  half  pay  to  those  officers  who  con 
tinued  to  the  end  of  the  war,  was  extended  for  seven  years 
after  such  officer's  death,  to  his  widow  or  orphan  children. 

Though  the  letter  of  the  resolutions  may  not  reach  us  so 
as  to  found  thereon  a  legal  claim,  we  do  respectfully  sub 
mit  to  your  honorable  Houses,  that  their  equity  and  spirit 
do  extend  to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who,  at 
Wyoming,  nobly  laid  down  their  lives  to  obtain  the  sweets 
of  liberty  and  independence  to  their  country.  For,  in  the 
view  of  patriotism  and  justice,  what  difference  can  it  make, 
in  respect  to  a  claim  for  assistance  to  the  widow  and  orphan 
left  destitute  by  the  death  of  their  husband  or'  father, 
whether  they  were  engaged  to  serve  for  a  longer  or  shorter 
time?  The  term  of  either  ceased  with  death,  and  left  each 
in  equal  sorrow  and  destitution. 

Several  widows  applied  to  the  commander  of  the  Indian 
expedition  in  1779,  on  his  passage  through  Wyoming,  for 
bread.  They  received  it  only  on  condition  that  they  would 
^vo^'k  for  the  public  in  return — so  ill  were  the  regulations  of 
those  disastrous  times.* 

The  blood  and  tears  shed  at  Wyoming  were  not  shed  in 
vain.  Perhaps  few  incidents  during  the  war  produced 

*  What  a  noble  contrast  do  the  proceedings  of  Wyoming  present. 
We  copy  from  the  record. 

"At  a  town  meeting  legally  warned  and  held  at  Westmoreland, 
'  December  ye  9th,  1777:  John  Jenkins,  Esq.,  was  chosen  Moderator 
'  for  ye  work  of  ye  day ;  Ezekiel  Pierce  was  chosen  town  clerk  for 
'the  year  ensuing,  December  3oth,  1777.  This  meeting  is  opened 
'  and  held  by  adjournment. 

"Voted — By  this  Town,  that  ye  Committee  of  Inspectors  be  em- 
'  powered  to  supply  the  SoGERS'  wives  and ROGERS'  widows,  and  their 
'families,  with  the  necessaries  of  life" 


2O  Till-:     WVOMINC     MASSACRE. 

stronger  sensations  of  horror  and  pity,  throughout  Europe, 
than  the  Wyoming  massacre.  Perhaps  few  circumstances 
had  so  powerful  a  tendency  to  discredit,  in  public  estima 
tion,  the  arms  and  efforts  of  the  enemy,  or  had  a  stronger 
influence  in  arousing  the  people  of  the  whole  civilized 
world  in  behalf  of  the  American  cause. 

After  the  surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis,  and  the  war 
might  be  regarded  as  ended,  Congress  issued  a  proclama 
tion  for  a  general  thanksgiving,  calling  on  all  classes  to 
acknowledge  the  goodness  of  Almighty  God,  in  affording 
aid  to  our  arms — "In  confounding  the  councils  of  our  ene 
mies,  and  suffering  them  to  pursue  such  measures  as  have 
contributed  to  frustrate  their  own  desires  and  expectations ; 
above  all,  in  making  their  extreme  cruelty  to  the  inhabitants 
of  these  States,  when  in  their  power,  and  their  savage 
devastation  of  property,  the  very  means  of  cementing  our 
Union,  and  adding  vigor  to  every  effort  in  opposition  to 
them." 

Thus,  honorable  Representatives  of  the  States  and  People, 
have  we  stated  our  case,  and  respectfully  pray  that  Con 
gress  would  appropriate  a  tract  of  land  equal  to  that 
granted  by  the  State  of  Virginia  to  Colonel  George  Rogers 
Clarke's  regiment ;  or  in  proportion  to  that  granted  by 
Connecticut  to  New  London  and  her  other  towns,  to  be 
divided  by  commissioners  to  be  appointed  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States — to  the  old  Wyoming  sufferers,  their 
widows,  heirs,  and  legal  representatives. 

Signed  by  order  and  in  behalf  of  the  meeting. 

WILLIAM  ROSS,  Chairman. 
ANDERSON  DANA,  Secretary. 


THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE.  21 

25'rn  CONGRESS,        DOC.  NO.  358.        Ho.  OF  REPS. 
2d  Session. 

WYOMING  SUFFERERS. 


Resolution  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  in  favor  of  granting  relief  to  the  Wyoming  Sufferers 
for  tlicir  losses  during  tJic  Revolutionary  War. 


MAY  2,  1838. 

Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Revolutionary  Claims. 


Resolution  relative  to  the  claim  of  the  old  Wyoming  Sufferers. 

Whereas,  a  memorial  has  been  presented  to  the  Congress 
of  trie  United  States,  in  behalf  of  the  old  Wyoming  suf 
ferers,  their  widows,  heirs  and  legal  representatives,  praying 
that  Congress  would  grant  them  a  tract  of  land,  in  satisfac 
tion  of  their  claims  for  losses  and  sufferings  sustained  at 
the  hands  of  the  common  and  savage  enemy ;  and  whereas, 
said  losses  and  sufferings  were  incurred  under  circumstances 
peculiar  to  the  Wyoming  settlement,  inasmuch  as  the  two 
companies  raised  at  Wyoming,  in  pursuance  of  the  resolu 
tion  of  Congress  of  the  23d  of  August,  1776,  for  the  defence 
of  the  inhabitants  of  said  town  and  parts  adjacent,  till 
further  orders  from  Congress,  were,  by  another  resolution 
of  the  1 2th  December  following,  ordered  to  join  General 
Washington  with  all  possible  expedition  ;  thus,  at  the  same 
time  exciting  the  anger  of  the  enemy  by  aid  furnished  the 
continental  army,  and  depriving  the  settlement  of  its  means 
of  defence  ;  and  whereas,  said  claim  is  well  founded  injustice 
and  equity,  and  no  compensation  ever  has  been  in  any  way 
made  to  those  sufferers ;  and  as  there  is  no  source,  other 
than  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  to  which  the 
claimants  can  now  look  with  any  hope  of  remuneration  : 
Therefore, 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

Resolved,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  Common  wealth  of  Pennsylvania  in  General  Assembly  met, 
That  our  Senators  in  Congress  be  instructed,  and  our  Rep 
resentatives  be  requested,  by  their  influence  and  their  votes, 
to  support  said  claim,  and  to  procure,  if  possible,  the  pass 
age  of  such  a  law  as  will  adequately  compensate  the  Wyo 
ming  sufferers  for  their  losses  during  the  revolutionary  war. 

Resolved,  That  the  Governor  be  requested  to  forward  a 
copy  of  the  above  preamble  and  resolution  to  each  of  our 
Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress. 

LEWIS  DEWART, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

CHARLES  B.  PEN  ROSE, 

Speaker  of  tJic  Senate. 

Approved  the  i6th  day  of  April,  1838. 

JOSEPH  RITNER. 

EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER,  \ 
Harrisburg,  April  24,  1838.      ) 

SIR  :  In  conformity  with  the  request  of  the  Legislature 
of  this  State,  I  enclose  to  you  the  resolution  lately  adopted 
"relative  to  the  claim"  of  the  old  Wyoming  sufferers." 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JOSEPH  RITNER. 
HON.  DAVID  PETRIKIN, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  23 

25TH  CONGRESS,  [REP.  No.  863.]  Ho.  OF  REPS. 

2d  Session. 

SAMUEL  TUBES  AND  OTHERS. 


MAY  1 1,  1838. 

Laid  on  the  table. 

MR.  AUGUSTINE    H.    SHEPPARD,   from  the    Committee  on 

Revolutionary  Claims,  made  the  following 

REPORT: 

The  Committee  on  Revolutionary  Claims,  to  which  was  re 
ferred  the  petition  of  Samuel  Tubbs  and  others,  report : 

That  the  petitioners  represent  themselves  as  being  the 
sufferers  and  the  descendants  of  those  who  suffered  in  the 
massacre  at  Wyoming,  in  the  revolutionary  war.  No  evi 
dence  whatever  is  offered  to  the  committee  tending  to  show 
that  the  petitioners  do  really  sustain  the  character  they 
have  assumed;  they  are,  therefore,  relieved  from  looking 
to  any  other  objection  that  might  arise  in  passing  favorably 
upon  this  description  of  claims. 

Resolved,  That  the  committee  be  discharged  from  any 
further  consideration  of  this  petition. 


24  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

25TH  CONGRESS,  [REP.  No.  1032.]          Ho.  OF  REPS. 

2fi  Session. 

WYOMING  CLAIMS. 


JULY  2,  1838. 

Read,  and  laid  upon  the  table. 


Mr.  UNDERWOOD,  from  the  the  Committee  on  Revolutionary 

Claims,  made  the  following 

REPORT : 

The  Committee  on  Revolutionary  Claims,  to  which  were  re 
ferred  sundry  petitions  praying  Congress  to  make  compen 
sation  to  the  survivors  and  to  the  descendants  of  those  who 
were  slain  in  the  massacre  of  Wyoming  for  losses  sus 
tained,  report: 

That  the  claim  of  the  petitioners  is  not  based  upon  any 
resolution  or  act  of  Congress  of  the  Revolution,  upon  which 
any  allowance  or  compensation  can  be  made  the  sufferers 
or  their  descendants  on  the  principle  of  discharging  a  con 
tract.  The  application,  therefore,  rests  upon  the  propriety 
of  granting  a  gratuity  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  of 
the  case.  The  hardships  and  privations  endured  by  the 
settlers  in  the  Wyoming  valley,  and  the  devastations  and 
murders  perpetrated  by  their  savage  enemy,  are  well  au 
thenticated  by  history,  and  forcibly  and  feelingly  presented 
in  the  document  advocating  the  claims  of  the  petitioners. 
It  is  therein  shown  that,  in  all  probability,  Connecticut 
would  have  made  a  suitable  provision  in  behalf  of  the 
sufferers  and  their  descendants,  had  that  State  retained 
jurisdiction  over  the  country.  The  fact  that  the  people  of 
Wyoming  were  excluded,  in  consequence  of  the  jurisdiction 
and  claim  of  Pennsylvania,  from  the  benefits  of  the  legisla 
tion  of  Connecticut,  which  relieved  other  portions  of  her 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  25 

citizens  who  suffered  during  the  Revolution,  upon  principles 
equally  applicable  to  the  Wyoming  settlers,  is  not  sufficient 
to  give  them  a  valid  claim  against  the  United  States.  We 
must  test  the  validity  of  the  claim  independent  of  that  cir 
cumstance.  When  that  is  done,  it  presents  the  single 
question  whether  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
ought,  at  this  day,  to  make  provision  for  compensating  the 
losses  sustained  by  the  inroads,  devastations,  and  murders 
of  a  savage  enemy  during  the  Revolution.  If  it  be  proper 
to  make  such  provision,  the  committee  cannot  receive  any 
sufficient  reason  for  discriminating  in  favor  of  the  Wyoming 
sufferers,  so  as  to  grant  indemnity  and  relief  to  them,  and 
withhold  it  from  others.  Why  may  not  the  families  whose 
husbands  and  fathers  were  defeated  and  slain  in  the  battle 
of  the  Bluelicks,  claim  compensation?  They  marched  to 
meet  a  savage  enemy,  to  repel  an  invasion,  to  defend  their 
fire-sides,  and  were  slain.  Why  may  not  all  those  whose 
houses  were  burnt  by  savages,  and  whose  children,  in  the 
absence  of  their  fathers,  were  often  murdered,  or  carried  off 
into  captivity,  during  the  Indian  wars  which  prevailed  at 
the  period  of  the  early  settlements  in  Kentucky  and  Ten 
nessee,  claim  compensation,  if  the  Government  allows  it  in 
behalf  of  the  Wyoming  petitions?  The  committee  perceive 
no  sufficient  reason  to  discriminate,  and  are  of  opinion  that 
all  or  none  should  be  provided  for.  Ought  any  to  be  pro 
vided  for?  We  think  not.  The  principle  upon  which 
Governments  are  charged  for  damage  done  by  a  public 
enemy,  requires  that  the  loss  should  be  the  consequence  of 
the  action  of  the  Government.  If  (for  illustration)  the  Gov 
ernment  occupies  the  houses  of  the  citizen  for  military 
purposes,  and  thereby  induces  the  enemy  to  destroy  them 
in  order  to  dislodge  or  defeat  an  army,  the  suffering  citizen 
may  justly  claim  compensation.  But  where  the  enemy 
wantonly  burns  a  city,  or  town,  or  pillages  a  farm,  or  mur 
ders  the  head  of  a  family,  there  is  no  just  foundation  to 
claim  compensation.  If  the  Government  should  acknowl 
edge  its  responsibility  in  such  cases,  the  consequences  might 
be  destructive  to  the  patriotism  of  the  country.  •  The  rule 
would  tend  to  influence  the  citizen  to  abandon  his  property 


26  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

instead  of  defending  it,  and  set  up  a  claim  against  the  Gov 
ernment  for  its  loss,  instead  of  protecting  it  by  manly  defence. 
The  prayer  of  the  petitioners  for  compensation  on  account 
of  the  burning  of  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  during  the 
Revolution,  was  rejected  by  the  Committee  on  Revolution 
ary  Claims  of  the  24th  Congress,  and  we  refer  to  the  report 
in  that  case  for  principles  applicable  to  this. 

The  committee  are  of  opinion  that  the   prayer  of  the 
petitioners  ought  not  to  be  granted. 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  2/ 

25TH  CONGRESS,  DOC.  NO.  203.  Ho.  OF  REPS. 

jd  Session. 

REVOLUTIONARY  WAR— WYOMING  SUFFERERS. 


PETITION 

OF 
THE  SUFFERERS  OF  WYOMING,  PENNSYLVANIA, 

By  depredations  committed  by  the  Indians  in  the  revolutionary 

war. 

FEBRUARY  18,  1839. 

Laid  ou  the  table,  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

To  Congress,  on  behalf  of  the  Wyoming  sufferers  : 

We  make  our  petition  short,  that  every  one  of  your  honors 
may  read  it  in  two  minutes. 

A  memorial  was  presented  at  last  session,  setting  forth 
our  case  at  length,  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Revolu 
tionary  Claims,  and  an  unfavorable  report  was  made  July 
2d — too  near  the  close  of  the  session  to  be  acted  on. 

The  ground  taken  in  that  report  is  contained  in  two  short 
sentences  : 

"That  the  claim  is  not  based  upon  any  resolution  or  act 
of  the  Congress  of  the  Revolution,  upon  which  any  allow 
ance  or  compensation  can  be  made  the  sufferers,  or  their 
descendants,  on  the  principle  of  discharging  a  contract." 

Again :  "The  principle  upon  which  Governments  are 
charged  for  damages  done  by  a  public  enemy  requires  that 
the  loss  should  be  in  consequence  of  the  action  of  the 
Government." 

May  it  please  your  honors,  we  were  very  unfortunate  in 
not  expressing  ourselves  more  clearly.  On  those  very 
principles  rests  one  of  the  strongest  grounds  of  our  claim. 

We  charge  distinctly  that  the  Continental  Congress  made 
a  contract  with  us,  and  violated  it,  which  occasioned  our 
ruin.  We  aver  that  it  was  in  consequence  of  the  action  of 
the  Government  our  losses  were  sustained. 


28  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

The  resolution  of  August  23,  1776,  reads  thus:  "Re 
solved,  that  two  companies  on  the  continental  establishment 
be  raised  in  the  town  of  Westmoreland,  and  stationed  in 
proper  places,  for  the  defence  of  the  inhabitants  of  said 
town  and  parts  adjacent,  till  further  orders  of  Congress." 

In  violation  of  this  solemn  pledge,  the  men  were  not 
stationed  here.  They  were  forthwith,  immediately  on  being 
raised,  drawn  away,  marched  below  the  mountains  more 
than  one  hundred  miles,  kept  away,  the  settlments  left 
wholly  defenceless ;  whereupon  the  enemy  came  down  and 
destroyed  it.  We  therefore  respectfully  renew  our  prayer 
for  such  remuneration  as  shall  be  just  and  equitable. 

We  refer  to  our  memorial  and  documents  of  last  session. 
It  is  our  intention  to  argue  the  matter  in  a  separate  paper, 
and  send  it  to  your  honors  in  a  few  days. 

Signed,  on  behalf  of  the  Wyoming  sufferers, 

WILLIAM  ROSS,  Chairman. 
ANDERSON  DANA,  Secretary. 

THE    ARGUMENT. 

To  the  honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives, 
constituting  the  Congress  of  the   United  States  : 

The  committee,  on  behalf  of  the  Wyoming  sufferers,  have 
already  forwarded  a  new  petition,  signed  by  General  William 
Ross,  chairman  of  the  meeting,  and  Anderson  Dana,  Esq., 
secretary  (the  former  of  whom  lost  two  brothers,  slain  in  the 
battle  of  July  3,  1 778,  and  the  latter  his  father  and  a  brother- 
in-law,)  asking  a  recognition  of  our  claims.  Those  gentle 
men,  from  their  own  personal  character,  from  the  respect 
able  meeting  they  represent,  and  from  the  deep  sufferings 
of  their  families,  are  entitled  to  be  heard ;  and  the  request 
they  urge,  to  be  fairly  and  impartially  considered. 

In  support  of  the  prayer  of  that  petition,  the  committee 
beg  leave  to  submit  the  following  argument,  brief  and  strong 
as  we  can  make  it,  controverting  the  opinion  of  Judge 
Underwood,  expressed  in  his  report  from  the  Committee  of 
Revolutionary  Claims,  made  just  before  the  close  of  your 
last  session. 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  2Q 

The  gist  of  that  report  is  contained  in  the  two  following 
propositions,  namely: 

1st.  "That  the  claim  of  the  petitioners  is  not  based 
upon  any  resolution  or  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  Revolu 
tion,  upon  which  any  allowance  or  compensation  can  be 
made  the  sufferers  or  their  descendants,  on  the  principle  of 
discharging  a  contract." 

2d.  "The  principle  upon  which  Governments  are  charged 
for  damages  done  by  a  public  enemy  requires  that  the  loss 
should  be  the  consequence  of  the  action  of  the  Govern 
ment." 

Our  purpose  is  to  show,  and  we  feel  confident  that  we 
shall  be  able  to  satisfy  every  intelligent  and  impartial 
mind — 

ist.  That  the  claim  of  the  petitioners  is  based  on  a  reso 
lution  of  the  Congress  of  the  Revolution,  on  which  com 
pensation  can  and  ought  to  be  made  the  sufferers,  on  the 
principle  of  discharging  a  contract. 

2d.  That  the  loss  sustained  was  in  consequence  of  the 
action  of  the  Government. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Continental  Con 
gress  legislated  by  resolution.  Their  most  solemn  contracts 
with  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  revolutionary  war  were 
made  by  resolution  alone.  No  formal  instrument ;  no  signed, 
sealed,  and  delivered  paper  or  parchment,  was  used  or 
deemed  necessary.  Congress,  being  the  supreme  power 
in  the  State,  by  resolution  prescribed  conditions  according 
to  its  own  wise  pleasure,  which,  when  accepted,  were  re 
garded  as  of  binding  force.  Thus,  when  eighty-eight 
battalions  were  required  to  be  raised  to  serve  during  the 
war,  September  16,  1776,  Congress  resolved: 

"That  twenty  dollars  be  given  as  a  bounty  to  each  non 
commissioned  officer  and  private  soldier  who  shall  enlist 
and  serve  during  the  present  war,  unless  sooner  discharged 
by  Congress." 

"That  Congress  make  provision  for  granting  lands,  in  the 
following  proportions,  to  the  officers  and  soldiers,  &c. :  To 
a  colonel,  500  acres;  to  a  lieutenant  colonel,  450  acres;" 
and  so  on. 


3<3  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

Permit  us  to  ask  if  there  is  a  doubt,  or  if  there  ever  was 
a  doubt,  whether  this  resolution  was  not  a  binding  compact 
of  the  most  imperative,  legal,  and  equitable  obligation, 
between  the  Government  on  one  part,  and  the  officers  and 
soldiers  who,  under  it,  engaged  to  serve  in  the  war,  on  the 
other  part. 

The  question  then  presents  itself,  what  are  the  terms  of 
the  resolution  on  which  we  rely;  what  its  provisions;  what 
is  its  fair  and  evident  meaning,  according  to  the  most  accept 
able  rules  of  construction  ? 

The  resolution  of  the  Continental  Congress,  to  which  we 
refer,  is  in  these  words : 

"Resolved,  That  two  companies  on  the  continental  estab 
lishment  be  raised  in  the  town  of  Westmoreland,  and 
stationed  in  proper  places  for  the  defence  of  the  inhabitants 
of  said  town  and  parts  adjacent,  till  further  orders  of  Con 
gress."  (See  Journal,  Aug.  23,  1776.) 

By  another  clause  it  was  provided  that  the  men  should 
be  liable  to  serve  in  any  part  of  the  United  States. 

It  will  strike  the  intelligent  reader  that  there  is  something 
peculiar  in  this  resolve.  Those  conversant  with  the  jour 
nals  will  see  that  the  proposition  by  Congress  to  raise  troops 
in  a  particular  town  is  quite  unusual,  if  not  wholly  without 
precedent  or  example.  The  usual  course  was  to  order  the 
number  of  battalions  which  each  State  should  raise  ;  but  to 
designate  a  particular  town,  and  direct  what  companies 
should  be  therein  raised,  is,  on  the  face  of  it,  extraordinary. 
It  prompts  the  instant  inquiry,  how  is  this?  Why  this  devia 
tion  from  the  common  course?  But  two  companies  are  to 
be  raised  in  Westmoreland;  two  full  companies;  what! 
in  one  town?  was  such  a  thing  ever  heard  of  before?  Cer 
tainly  there  must  have  been  good  reasons  that  moved 
Congress  to  this  unusual  proceeding.  That  august  body 
acted  with  wisdom  and  deliberation.  They  did  not  move 
without  good  and  sufficient  cause.  Let  us,  then,  examine 
the  whole  matter  with  care,  explore  the  reasons  which  occa 
sioned  this  peculiar  step,  and  endeavor  to  ascertain  what 
were  their  motives,  their  intentions,  and  their  acts. 

The  situation  of  the  town  of  Westmoreland,  considered, 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  3  I 

first,  as  it  respected  the  State  of  which  it  was  a  part ;  sec 
ondly,  its  situation  in  respect  to  other  settlements ;  and, 
thirdly,  in  regard  to  the  enemy,  will  throw  light  upon  this 
subject,  which  otherwise  seems  so  dark  and  unintelligible 
to  the  superficial  reader. 

First.  Westmoreland  was  a  town  of  Connecticut,  though  \x 
it  lay  far  west,  beyond  the  State  of  New  York.  Connecticut  *  \ 
claimed,  by  its  charter,  from  her  eastern  limits,  about  a 
degree  of  latitude  west  to  the  ocean,  excepting  such  terri 
tory  as  was  previously  granted  or  settled.  Honestly  believ 
ing  in  the  justice  of  her  claims  (whether  mistaken  or  correct 
does  not  appertain  to  this  argument,)  she  pushed  out  beyond 
the  Delaware  her  settlements,  which  were  concentrated  at 
Wyoming.  Here  she  established  the  town  of  Westmore 
land,  which  was  attached  to  Litchfield  county,  and  two 
representatives  were  here  chosen  to  the  Assembly,  sitting 
at  Hartford  or  New  Haven.  The  great  distance  from  the 
parent  State  would  have  prevented  aid  being  received  from 
thence  in  case  of  attack,  if  no  other  hinderance  intervened; 
but,  in  those  early  times,  the  highways  were  exceedingly 
rough;  and  from  the  Delaware  to  the  Susquehanna  was  a 
wilderness  barely  not  impassable.  Moreover,  with  her 
exposed  frontier  for  one  hundred  miles  along  the  seaboard, 
from  Stonington  to  Stamford,  the  latter  within  less  than 
fifty  miles  of  the  headquarters  of  the  British,  it  will  be  at 
once  seen  that  she  could  not  spare  men  to  defend  this 
remote  settlement.  It  was  therefore  physically  and  morally 
impossible  for  Connecticut  to  afford  us  protection. 

We  come,  then  to  the  second  consideration,  namely,  the 
situation  of  Westmoreland  in  respect  to  other  inhabitants. 
The  upper  settlements  of  Pennsylvania,  those  nearest  to 
Wyoming,  were  Easton  and  Bethlehem,  about  sixty  miles 
distant — and  the  Great  Swamp,  including  the  Shades  of 
Death,  from  its  gloomy  and  inhospitable  character,  with 
the  range  of  the  Blue  mountains,  all  intervening.  A  bridle 
path  existed  through  this  dreary  way ;  but  extreme  neces 
sity  only  could  oblige  a  person  to  travel  it.  Down  the 
Susquehanna,  about  sixty  miles,  to  Sunbury,  at  the  conflu 
ence  of  the  west  and  east  branches,  there  was  a  small  number 


32  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

of  persons  and  a  fort  named  "Augusta;"  but  the  exposed 
situation  of  Sunbury,  and  the  limited  number  of  inhabitants, 
would  have  rendered  aid  from  that  quarter  hopeless.  The 
fact  should  also  be  distinctly  impressed  on  the  mind,  that 
Easton,  Bethlehem,  and  Sunbury,  with  the  Government  of 
Pennsylvania,  regarded  the  Wyoming  people  with  a  jealous 
eye,  as  intruders  and  rival  claimants  of  a  desirable  territory. 
In  case  of  attack,  aid  from  those  points,  it  will  be  seen,  was 
hardly  to  be  expected. 

Then  comes  the  third  consideration.  What  was  the  situ 
ation  of  Westmoreland  in  regard  to  the  enemy?  Was  there 
danger?  What  was  the  character,  power,  and  nearness,  of 
that  enemy?  This  is  a  point  of  the  utmost  consequence  to 
the  right  understanding  of  this  matter. 

In  answer,  we  state  the  well-known  fact  that  the  savages 
inhabited  all  the  upper  branches  of  the  Susquehanna,  and 
their  settlements  extended  through  the  whole  lake  and  Gen- 
esee  country.  Not  a  single  wandering  tribe,  half  broken  by 
contact  with  white  men,  and  their  strength  withered  by 
indulgence  in  spirituous  liquors — not  the  emasculated  Dela 
ware,  conquered  by  a  superior  tribe,  and  obliged  to  wear 
the  garb  and  name  of  women — but  it  was  the  most  power 
ful  and  dreadful  confederacy  of  Indians  the  white  man  had 
ever  encountered  on  this  continent.  Their  victorious  arms 
reached  to  the  Catawbas  of  Carolina,  and  dealt  out  bolts  of 
vengeance  upon  the  Mohicans  of  New  England.  The  Six 
Nations,  or  the  confederate  tribes,  were  known  in  our  history 
as  the  most  powerful  and  the  most  warlike  of  the  whole  race 
of  red  men.  Dr.  Golden,  in  view  of  their  strength,  extended 
empire,  and  boundless  ambition,  gave  them  the  name  of  the 
Roman  Indians.  They  gave  themselves  the  lofty  name  of 
"  Ongivehonuc,"  signifying  "men surpassing  all  others,  supe 
rior  to  the  rest  of  mankind ;"  and  there  was  not  a  man, 
woman,  or  child,  within  a  circle  of  a  thousand  miles,  who, 
seventy  years  ago,  did  not  tremble  and  turn  pale  at 
the  name.  A  MOHAWK!  a  MOHAWK!  was  a  cry  of  heart- 
withering  terror;  and  when,  in  Queen  Anne's  reign,  there 
arose  a  band  of  ruthless  and  bloody  ruffians,  in  London, 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  33 

who  seized  and  wantonly  maimed  their  victims,  to  designate 
them  as  supremely  savage,  they  were  called  MOHAWKS.* 

This  confederacy  of  warlike  nations  inhabited  the  upper 
section  of  the  river ;  they  were  in  force  at  Aquago,  at  Una- 
dilla,  at  Tioga,  and  at  Newtown.  From  Tioga,  where  they 
would  rendezvous,  at  a  moderate  rise  of  water,  boats  can 
descend  to  Wyoming  in  twenty-four  hours.  The  navigation 
is  smooth  and  excellent,  so  much  so  that,  by  moonlight,  our 
raftmen  often  run,  and  with  safety.  So  that  a  descending 
water  communication,  rendering  an  attack  sudden  and  easy, 
placed  Westmoreland  in  a  more  exposed  situation  than  any 
other  portion  of  the  American  frontier.  The  hiss  and  rattle 
could  be  heard  from  the  doorsill!  The  howling  from  the 
den  was  within  ear-shot  of  the  fold!  A  numerous,  warlike, 
and  cruel  enemy  was  within  striking  distance!  Thus  near 
was  the  danger.  Thus  exposed  was  Wyoming ! 

These  were  the  peculiar  circumstances  which  rendered 
Westmoreland  an  object  of  special  attention  on  the  part  of 
the  Continental  Congress.  Nor  was  this  all.  Another  con 
sideration  of  weight  bears  directly  on  this  point  The 
savage  generally  attacks  the  nearest  or  outer  settlement 
both  as  most  exposed,  and  to  prevent  being  intercepted  and 
cut  off,  should  he  venture  deeper  within  the  inhabited 
country.  If  the  Wyoming  people  should  abandon  their 
possessions,  then,  of  course,  an  extended  line  along  the  Blue 
mountains,  sixty  miles  lower  down,  would  be  exposed. 
Slaughter,  havoc,  and  fire  would  rage  from  the  Water-gap 
to  Fort  Augusta.  Not  only  would  the  immediate  sufferings 
of  the  people  exist  to  be  deprecated,  but  Easton,  Bethlehem, 
and  perhaps  Reading,  being  constantly  harassed,  the  re 
sources  of  men  and  provisions  for  Washington's  army  on 


*  Moreover,  if  any  thing  could  add  to  the  accumulated  dread  and 
horror  of  these  nations,  was  the  fact  that  they  were  cannibals, 
devourers  of  human  flesh.  "The  Five  Nations  formerly,"  says  the 
Rev.  C.  Pyrlaeus,  as  quoted  by  Heckewelder,  "did  eat  human  flesh." 
"Eto  niacht  ochquari,"  said  they,  in  devouring  the  whole  body  of  a 
French  soldier ;  which,  being  interpreted,  is  "human  flesh  tastes  like 
bear  meat!  " 

(vSee  transactions  of  the  Historical  and  Literary  Committee  of  the 
American  Philanthropist  Society,  published  in  Philadelphia,  1819, 
page  37.) 


34  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

the  maritime  frontier  would  be  most  injuriously  affected. 
Bringing  the  war,  like  two  lines  of  fire,  so  near  each  other, 
the  savages  on  the  north  and  the  British  on  the  south,  must 
occasion  infinite  distress,  if  not  danger  to  the  cause.  Hence 
it  will  be  seen  that  there  were  considerations  of  the  most 
weighty  character  to  induce  Congress  specially  to  interpose 
in  respact  to  Wyoming. 

We  use  the  words  Wyoming  or  Westmoreland  with  the 
same  meaning ;  the  first  being  the  popular  and  well-known 
name,  the  second  the  technical  designation,  and  that  used 
by  the  resolution.  As  they  must  frequently  occur,  the 
irksomeness  of  too  frequent  repetition  is  thereby  in  some 
measure  avoided. 

We  have  drawn  out  those  particulars  relating  to  the 
matter  somewhat  at  length,  because  we  know  that  the 
present  Congress  and  the  country  at  large  have  been  under 
the  impression  that  this  stood,  like  other  frontier  settlements, 
without  anything  peculiar  in  its  case,  except  that  of  suffering 
more  deeply.  It  was  not  so.  The  aspect  of  the  case  above 
presented  will  aid,  we  trust,  to  correct  the  error,  and  place 
the  facts  in  their  proper  point  of  view.  The  Continental 
Congress  saw  the  subject  in  its  just  light,  interposed  with 
its  wisdom  and  authority,  took  Wyoming  under  its  particu 
lar  protection,  and  provided,  "That  two  companies  on  the 
continental  establishment  be  raised  in  the  town  of  West 
moreland,  and  STATIONED  IN  PROPER  PLACES,  FOR  THE  DE 
FENCE  OF  THE  INHABITANTS  OF  SAID  TOWN  and  parts  adjacent, 
until  further  order  of  Congress."  Thus,  on  the  23d  of 
August,  1776,  was  it  resolved. 

The  question  arises :  What  is  the  true  interpretation  of 
this  resolution?  Was  it  in  the  nature  of  a  contract  entered 
into  between  the  Government  and  the  people  of  Westmore 
land?  What  are  the  terms  of  the  agreement?  Were  they 
complied  with  by  the  people?  Were  they  fulfilled  by  the 
Government,  or  were  they  violated  by  the  Government? 
And  were  the  losses  that  occurred  the  consequences  of  that 
violation,  which,  in  the  language  of  Judge  Underwood,  give 
a  claim  on  the  principle  of  "discharging  a  contract?"  Or 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  35 

was  the  loss  sustained  "  in  consequence  of  the  action  of  the 
Government?" 

We  beg  leave  to  lay  down  the  following,  as  among  the 
just  rules  of  construction  applicable  to  the  case.  It  would 
seem  like  pedantry,  were  we  to  quote  authorities  for  them, 
derived  from  Grotius  to  Vattel,  and  from  Vattel  to  Black- 
stone.  The  general  rules  are  founded  in  common  sense, 
are  confirmed  by  the  wisdom  and  experience  of  ages,  and 
are,  we  apprehend,  of  equally  just  application,  whether  quot 
ed  by  those  authors  as  having  reference  to  the  interpreta 
tion  of  treaties,  compacts,  statutes,  deeds,  or  resolutions : 
Rules  of  Construction. 

1.  That,  to  determine  the  meaning  of  a  statute,  we  must 
look  to  the  circumstances  existing  at  the  time  it  was  made, 
and  the  evils  meant  to  be  remedied. 

2.  It  shall  not  be  presumed,  in  a  solemn  contract,  that 
any  words  were    used    without  due    consideration    and    a 
definite  meaning. 

3.  That  to  every  word  or  sentence  shall  be  ascribed  a 
meaning,  if  it  be  possible. 

4.  That  doubtful  words  be  taken  most  strongly  against 
the  grantor  or  maker  of  the 'instrument. 

5.  That  where  a  benefit  is  stipulated  and  an  equivalent 
required,  you  may  not  demand  the  equivalent  without  fully 
meting  out  or  according  the  benefit  stipulated. 

6.  That  faith  is  not  less  wounded  by  a  refusal  to  admit  a 
right  interpretation,  than  by  an  open  infraction. 

7.  That  the  interpretation  of  every  act  ought  to  be  made 
such  as  the  parties  concerned  must  naturally  have  under 
stood  them. 

8.  Every  interpretation  that  leads  to  an  absurdity  ought 
to  be  rejected. 

If  these  rules  be  correct,  let  them  have  their  just  appli 
cation  to  the  resolution,  and  we  presume  that  not  a  doubt 
could  longer  exist  of  the  justice  of  the  Wyoming  claim. 

"That  two  companies  be  raised — [this  is  clear,  and  needs 
no  interpretation;  each  company  consisted  of  84  men] — 
on  the  continental  establishment — [this  also  is  precise,  and 
requires  no  explanation] — in  the  town  of  Westmoreland — 


36  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

[the  place  where  is  distinctly  set  forth] — AND  STATIONED." 
One  would  think  this  word  sufficiently  common  and  plain. 
It  would  be  scarcely  respectful  to  refer  intelligent  minds  to 
a  dictionary  for  its  meaning.  Every  school-boy  knows  that 
to  be  stationed  means  to  be  fixed  at  a  particular  point — not 
to  be  drawn  away  or  marched  from  place  to  place.  But 
the  provision  goes  further — the  men  are  to  be  stationed,  not 
till  they  were  wanted  elsewhere,  not  till  Congress  shall  think 
proper  to  call  them  away,  but  they  are  "to  be  stationed  in 
proper  places  for  the  defence  of  the  inhabitants."  There  is 
a  particular  purpose  in  view  in  raising  these  two  companies ; 
there  is  an  object  in  calling  on  a  single  town  for  so  large  a 
body  of  men  as  two  companies ;  it  is  for  their  own  protec 
tion — they  "shall  be  stationed  in  proper  places  for  the  de 
fence  of  the  inhabitants."  From  whom?  Where  was  the 
source  of  danger?  Not  from  Lords  Howe  or  Cornwallis. 
From  the  maritime  frontier  there  was  nothing  to  apprehend. 
The  danger  was  from  the  Mohawks — from  the  confederate 
savage  nations  on  the  upper  branches  of  the  river. 

The  question  turns  on  this — whether  these  words  have 
any  meaning.  Can  a  doubt  exist?  Are  not  the  expressions 
plain?  Are  not  the  reasons  'of  the  thing  abundant  and 
clear? 

But  does  the  subsequent  clause,  "until  otherwise  ordered 
by  Congress,"  annihilate  and  make  void  what  goes  before? 
That  would  be  contrary  to  every  rule  of  interpretation 
brought  forward  or  left  behind,  in  the  books  or  out  of  the 
books.  It  would  be  a  violation  of  common  sense — an 
absurdity  on  the  face  of  it. 

Can  both  positions  be  reconciled — that  the  men  should 
be  stationed  here,  and  yet  that  Congress  at  its  discretion 
might  call  them  away?  Certainly,  common  sense  and  com 
mon  honesty  would  find  not  the  slightest  difficulty.  Judges, 
the  Legislature,  and  the  Executive,  are  all  invested  with 
discretionary  power.  Are  they  therefore  despotic  and 
irresponsible  ?  God  forbid  !  Their  discretion  must  be  ex 
ercised  in  reference  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  the  principles 
of  equity,  and  the  rights  of  the  citizen.  The  abuse  of 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  37 

discretionary  power  is  not  less  odious  than  the  violation  of 
positive  law. 

A  simple  and  just  paraphrase  of  this  resolution  will  show 
more  clearly  its  meaning  and  proper  construction : 

"People  of  Westmoreland,"  says  Congress,  "we  see  your 
peculiar  and  exposed  situation.  Far  removed  from  Con 
necticut,  your  proper  State  cannot  protect  you.  On  the 
borders  of  the  confederate  savage  nations,  your  danger  is 
imminent.  For  the  interests  of  the  whole  country  below, 
it  is  desirable  that  your  settlement  be  kept  up.  We  have 
not  troops  to  spare  to  garrison  your  forts,  but  we  will  do 
all  in  our  power  to  protect  you.  Raise  two  companies  on 
the  continental  establishment  and  we  pledge  ourselves  that 
they  shall  be  armed,  disciplined,  and  be  stationed  among 
you  in  proper  places  for  your  defence,  so  long  as  the  danger 
shall  exist;  but  if  we  can  make  peace  with  the  Indians,  or 
drive  them  off  from  their  settlements,  beyond  reach,  so  that 
your  families  will  be  secure,  then  we  claim  the  right  to 
march  the  men  wherever  the  public  service  may  require." 

Agreed,  say  the  inhabitants ;  and  the  men  are  raised. 

This,  in  our  view,  is  plain  common  sense.  We  blush  to 
be  obliged  to  argue  a  matter  so  clear. 

And  yet,  disregarding  this  solemn  pledge,  under  the 
claim  that  Congress  might  march  the  men  away  at  their 
discretion,  the  companies  cannot  be  said  to  have  been 
stationed  an  hour  at  Wyoming,  but  were  drawn  instantly 
away.  Early  in  September  the  resolution  to  raise  them 
was  received  at  Wyoming ;  early  in  December,  the  moment 
the  men  could  be  enlisted,  Congress  ordered  that  they  join 
General  Washington. 

Is  this  giving  to  every  word  or  sentence  a  meaning,  if  it 
be  possible? 

Does  not  such  interpretation  involve  an  absurdity? 

Is  it  not  manifestly  contrary  to  the  understanding  of  the 
parties  at  the  time? 

Can  any  one  doubt  but  the  men  enlisted  under  the  full 
impression  that  their  homes,  their  wives,  and  their  little 
ones,  were  to  be  guarded  by  their  enrollment,  and  being 
armed  against  a  hostile  invasion  of  the  savages? 


38  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

Did  Congress  use  these  words  foolishly  and  without 
meaning?  Such  a  question  is  an  insult? 

Did  Congress  use  them  deceptively,  and  thus  fraudulently 
lure  all  the  able-bodied  men  of  the  settlement  to  enlist, 
meaning  to  cheat  them,  and  march  them  a  hundred  miles 
below  the  mountains,  leaving  their  families  exposed  to 
the  savage,  without  power  and  without  hope?  Blistered 
be  the  tongue  that  should  utter  such  venomous  slander 
against  that  venerable  and  virtuous  assemblage ! 

We  are  told  in  the  old  books  of  a  Roman  general  who 
agreed  with  Antiochus  to  restore  half  his  vessels ;  but  he 
caused  the  vessels  to  be  sawed  in  two.  Another  case  of 
fraudulent  interpretation  is  given :  Tamerlane,  after  having 
engaged  the  city  of  Sabasta  to  capitulate,  under  the  promise 
that  no  blood  should  be  spilt,  caused  all  the  soldiers  of  the 
garrison  to  be  buried  alive. 

Here  Congress  promises  that  the  men  shall  be  retained 
for  the  defence  of  the  inhabitants;  and,  under  reserved 
power,  impliedly  not  to  be  used  while  the  danger  continued, 
forthwith  drew  them  all  away  150  miles,  and  the  enemy 
came  down  and  desolated  the  whole  settlement.  If  this 
was  intended,  wherein  was  the  act  less  base  and  treacherous 
than  that  of  Tamerlane  or  the  Roman  general?  Both  "kept 
the  promise  to  the  ear,  but  broke  it  to  the  sense." 

Congress  did  not  so  intend.  The  agreement  was  made 
in  good  faith.  It  was  honestly  intended  that  the  companies 
should  be  stationed  here  so  long  as  the  danger  continued 
to  exist.  But  the  exigencies  of  the  country  below — the 
state  of  Washington's  army — their  defeat  at  the  White 
Plains  in  October — the  surrender  of  Fort  Washington  in 
November — the  march  of  Lord  Cornwallis  from  New  York, 
with  a  large,  well  armed,  and  well  appointed  army,  pressing 
in  the  rear  of  his  Excellency  as  he  retreated  with  his  dis- 
spirited  troops  through  the  Jerseys — the  reduction  of  our 
army  to  3,000  men — and,  finally,  the  determination  of 
Congress  to  remove  from  Philadelphia  to  Baltimore — all  go 
to  show  that  there  existed  an  extreme  distress,  an  imperi 
ous  necessity,  superior  to  ail  law,  superior  to  all  contract. 
Thus  pressed,  on  the  day  Congress  resolved  to  adjourn  to 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  39 

Baltimore  they  ordered  that  the  two  companies  raised  in 
Westmoreland  "join  General  Washington  with  all  possible 
expedition." 

The  men  marched  away,  and  were  for  the  first  winter 
kept  as  a  distinct  corps,  called  the  independent  companies, 
and  stationed  on  the  line  between  the  two  armies,  being 
attached  to  no  regiment  or  brigade ;  manifestly  kept  thus 
separate  that  they  might  be  returned  to  Wyoming.  But 
the  necessity  that  drew  the  men  away  continued — the  try 
ing  campaign  of  1777  came  on — the  companies  were  in  the 
battles  of  Millstone,  Brandywine,  Germantown,  Mud  Fort, 
and  others,  and  could  not  be  spared. 

But  their  absence,  they  being  the  chief  effective  force  of 
the  town,  left  Westmoreland  unprotected — invited  the  sav 
ages  to  an  easy  prey — stimulated  by  their  patriotic  service 
in  the  cause  of  liberty,  to  thirst  for  vengeance.  They  came 
down  and  swept  the  valley  with  "the  fire  shower  of  ruin." 
If  the  two  companies,  armed  and  disciplined,  had  re 
mained  stationed  at  home,  for  the  defence  of  the  inhabi 
tants,  such  could  not  have  been  the  result.  The  attempt 
would  not,  in  all  human  probability,  have  been  made  ;  and, 
if  made,  would  in  all  probability  have  been  repelled ;  and 
the  conclusion,  to  our  minds,  follows,  with  the  clearness  of 
light  and  force  of  demonstration,  that  the  losses  arose  from 
the  act  of  the  Government — that  the  Government  faith  was 
pledged  and  broken — from  which  the  disasters  occurred ; 
that  a  contract  was  entered  into  and  violated,  which  occa 
sioned  the  desolation  and  loss  of  property;  and  that,  on 
every  principle  of  fairness  and  justice,  the  Government 
ought  to  make  a  just  remuneration  to  the  people. 
BENJ.  A.  BIDLACK,  "i 
WM.  S.  ROSS  - 

HEZEKIAH  PARSONS,  f  Com™ttee- 
CHARLES  MINER.          j 
JANUARY  21,  1839. 

References  to  the  documents  and  observations. 
The    committee   of  correspondence   on  the  part   of  the 
Wyoming  sufferers  respectfully  ask  leave  to  submit  to  the 


4O  THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

Committee  on  Revolutionary  Claims,  with  the  documents 
prepared,  a  few  remarks,  with  brief  references  to  the  evi 
dence  in  support  of  our  memorial. 

In  respect  to  those  general  facts  which  are  matter  of 
public  history,  no  particular  observations  are  deemed  nec 
essary. 

For  the  resolutions  of  Congress  ordering  two  companies 
to  be  raised  at  Westmoreland  ("for  defence  of  said  town  and 
parts  adjacent,")  refer  to  Way  &  Gideon's  editions  of  the 
Journals,  vol.  i,  p.  453,  August  26,  1776.  For  the  order 
to  join  General  Washington,  same  vol.  p.  577,  December  12, 
1776.  For  the  universal  turn  out,  on  the  descent  of  the 
enemy,  rendered  necessary  and  occasioned  by  the  absence 
of  the  two  companies,  and  for  the  slaughter  which  ensued 
in  families,  see  the  statement,  No.  i,  of  Mrs.  Bidlack;  2, 
Mrs.  Carey;  3,  Colonel  E.  Inman.  That  old  men,  grand 
fathers,  and  boys  of  tender  age,  were  obliged  to  go  to  battle, 
see  No.  4,  statement  of  S.  Abbott ;  which  also  shows 
attempts  made  to  save  grain,  and  the  fatal  consequences, 
and  also  the  total  loss  of  everything.  Mrs.  Jenkins's  state 
ment  No.  5,  shows  that  the  depredations  of  the  enemy 
began  a  few  months  after  the  men  were  marched  away— 
the  horrid  cruelties  practised — the  labor  our  people  had  to 
undergo,  even  to  making,  at  times,  their  own  powder — the 
continued  inroads  of  the  savages  up  to  1780,  as  in  the  case 
of  Roswell  Franklin's  family. 

Mrs.  Myers,  No.  6,  shows  the  earnest  endeavors  of  Col 
onel  Dennison  to  restrain  the  enemy  from  plundering;  the 
general  conflagration;  expulsion;  the  attacks  of  the  enemy 
the  next  spring,  and  the  brave  and  successful  resistance  of 
Hammond,  her  father,  and  brother.  Mrs.  Courtright,  No. 
7,  Mr.  Marcey,  No.  10,  Mr.  Rogers,  No.  1 1,  relate  brief 
but  affecting  incidents  of  the  flight,  showing  the  sufferings 
of  our  exiled  people  in  the  wilderness;  that  of  Mr.  Rogers 
going  also  to  show  the  continued  attacks  of  the  savages, 
and  a  successful  instance  of  resistance.  Colonel  Ransom, 
No.  8,  sets  forth,  as  near  as  possible,  the  number  of  men 
in  the  two  companies;  the  active  service  they  saw;  the 
entreaties  to  be  allowed  to  return,  to  defend  their  homes, 


THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE.  4! 

on  the  news  of  the  invasion  ;  appearance  of  the  battlefield  ; 
death  of  his  father;  and  his  own  captivity  in  1780. 

Major  E.  Blackman,  No.  1 2,  shows  the  number  of  forts ; 
manner  of  building  by  the  people,  without  "fee  or  reward;" 
old  men  form  companies  to  keep  garrison.  See,  also,  extract 
from  old  Westmoreland  records  in  our  memorial. 

Ishmael  Bennett,  No.  9,  shows  that,  in.  the  expulsion, 
any  attempt  to  take  away  goods  was  followed  with  death, 
as  in  the  case  of  St.  John  and  Leach;  shows  the  cruel  tor 
tures  of  the  prisoners  ;  the  flight,  and  destruction  of  every 
thing.  Rev.  B.  Bidlack,  No.  13,  shows  his  service  as  a 
militiaman,  without  pay  ;  the  services  of  his  family  ;  his  aged 
father  commanding  a  company  of  old  men  garrisoning  a 
fort,  while  his  son  (brother  of  Mr.  B.  Bidlack)  led  a  com 
pany  into  the  battle,  and  fell  at  the  head  of  his  men;  the 
captivity  of  his  father  afterwards  ;  his  own  enlistment,  with 
ten  or  twelve  other  men,  at  Wyoming.  Joseph  Slocum, 
No.  14,  shows  the  sufferings  of  his  family,  and  the  constant 
attacks  of  the  savages.  Cornelius  Courtright,  No.  15,  show 
ing  that  in  the  battle,  even  on  our  devoted  left,  our  men 
did  not  fly  till  they  had  fought,  and  were  overpowered. 

Mrs.  Cooper,  No.  16,  shows,  among  other  interesting 
matter,  the  repeated  attempts  made  to  obtain  something  to 
help  the  exiles  on  their  way,  and  the  extreme  hunger  to 
which  some  of  them  were  reduced.  General  William  Ross, 
No.  1 7,  besides  much  interesting  matter  in  respect  to  his 
own  family,  is  more  full  in  regard  to  the  invasion  of  1779; 
the  number  of  forts;  the  general  duty  performed  without 
pay ;  and  especially  sustains  the  assertion  in  our  memorial, 
"that  every  man  in  Wyoming  might  be  considered  as  en 
listed  for  and  during  the  war."  Anderson  Dana,  No.  18, 
showing  the  loss  of  life  to  his  family,  and  total  ruin  of 
property. 

No.  19,  official  letter  of  Colonel  Butler,  showing  the  inva 
sion  in  the  spring  of  1779. 

No.  20,  Elisha  Harding,  Esq's  statement.  The  committee 
forward  the  statement  of  this  aged  and  respectable  citizen, 
as  he  sent  it;  marking  for  omission,  should  it  be  printed, 


42  THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

one  or  two  immaterial  sentences.  It  is  full  of  interesting 
matter. 

The  Wyoming  committee  would  observe  that,  in  answer 
to  their  inquiries  of  the  aged  people  for  information,  as  was 
inevitable  from  the  great  lapse  of  time,  much  that  was 
learned  from  friends,  now  deceased,  was  mixed  up  with 
what  was  personally  known  ;  and  it  therefore  seemed  hardly 
proper  to  ask  an  oath  for  its  verification.  This  was  deemed 
the  less  necessary,  as  those  ancient  and  respectable  relics  of 
that  trying  period,  standing,  as  it  were,  with  one  foot  on 
the  threshold  of  the  judgment  seat,  could  hardly  be  sup 
posed  to  add  more  solemnity  to  their  averments,  or  inspire 
more  credence  in  their  declarations,  by  any  mere  legal  form 
of  attestation. 

Their  statements  were  taken  by  one  of  the  committee 
much  more  in  detail,  and  abridged,  omitting  repetitions  and 
irrelevant  matter.  There  is  an  old  assessment  of  1781,  and 
a  passage  or  two  in  the  ancient  votes  of  Westmoreland, 
which  a  sense  of  duty  requires  us  to  bring  to  your  notice. 
It  is  not  without  a  slight  feeling  of  mortified  pride,  however 
improper  to  be  indulged,  that  we  expose  to  the  world  the 
utter  poverty  and  nakedness  of  the  land;  how  completely 
this  fair  and  flourishing  settlement  was  prostrated  and  im 
poverished,  by  the  miseries  of  war.  To  awaken  your  com 
miseration  we  certainly  should  not  do  it.  But  our  appeal 
is  not  to  the  pity  but  to  the  justice  of  our  country.  These 
misfortunes,  this  overwhelming  and  unequalled  ruin,  were 
brought  on  us  by  the  Government,  in  withdrawing,  for  the 
service  of  the  country  elsewhere,  the  whole  force  which 
God  and  nature  had  provided  for  our  defence  at  home,  and 
which  Congress  had  raised  for  that  special  purpose.  No. 
21,  the  assessment  or  tax  list  of  Westmoreland,  for  1781. 
It  shows  at  once  the  numbers  and  property  of  the  settle 
ment.  By  the  laws  of  Connecticut,  a  poll  tax  was  laid ; 
those  from  1 6  to  21  being  rated  at  £9 ;  those  from  2 1  to 
70  at  £18  ;  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  a  few  others,  were 
exempt.  By  the  assessment,  it  will  appear  that  Westmore 
land,  which  raised  for  the  continental  establishment  in 
1776^77  more  than  250  men,  had  left,  in  1781,  but  114 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  43 

men  from  21  to  70,  and  24  boys  from  16  to  21,  making,  in 
all,  but  140  males  from  16  to  70;  and  that,  deducting 
,£2,286,  the  assessment  on  persons,  there  remains  only 
,£2,248  value  of  property  in  the  whole  country  on  which  to 
levy  a  tax — a  considerable  less  sum,  it  is  presumed,  than 
some  individuals  on  your  committee  are  assessed.  The  oxen 
were  reduced  to  less  than  23  pair.  There  were  7  horse 
kind,  of  i  year  old ;  4  of  2  years  old ;  and  2  silver  watches 
— one  belonging  the  widow  Durkee,  whose  husband  fell  in 
the  battle. 

In  the  old  Westmoreland  record  for  the  year,  we  find  the 
following : 

"At  a  town  meeting  legally  warned  and  held  in  West 
moreland,  on  the  8th  day  of  September,  1781,  voted,  that 
John  Hurlbut,  Esq.,  be  moderator  for  said  meeting." 

"Voted,  that  a  tax  be  granted  of  4^.  on  the  pound,  as 
soon  as  the  list  can  be  completed,  to  be  paid  either  in  hard 
money,  or  in  produce  at  the  following  prices:  flax,  lod.  per 
pound ;  wheat,  $s.  6d.  per  bushel ;  rye,  2s.  6d. ;  and  corn, 
at  2s.  per  bushel." 

"Voted,  that  Obadiah  Gore  and  John  Franklin  be  agents 
to  negotiate  a  petition,  praying  for  an  abatement  of  taxes 
for  the  present  list  of  1781,  at  the  General  Assembly  in 
October  next." 

We  do  not  know,  but  presume  the  Assembly  of  Connec 
ticut  granted  the  request ;  for  to  have  insisted  on  the  full 
payment  of  the  tax,  in  their  impoverished  condition,  would 
have  been  like  wringing  the  last  drop  of  blood  from  the 
heart  of  misery. 

By  a  vote  of  the  town,  the  3d  of  December,  the  time 
for  paying  the  tax  in  flax  and  grain  was  extended  to 
"the  1st  day  of  January,  1782;  and  the  constables  in 
structed*  to  conform  themselves  accordingly."  The  com 
mittee  may,  perhaps,  be  pleased  to  learn  how  the  grain  was 
disposed  of,  Connecticut  having  probably  remitted  it  for  the 
use  of  the  town. 

"At  a  town  meeting,  legally  warned,  in  and  for  the  town 
of  Westmoreland,  April  8,  1782 — 

"Voted,  that  the  town  treasurer  be  desired  to  grind  up 


44  THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

so  much  of  the  public  wheat  as  to  make  200  pounds  of 
biscuit,  and  keep  it  made  and  so  deposited  as  that  the  nec 
essary  scouts  may  instantly  be  supplied,  from  time  to  time, 
as  the  occasion  requires." 

These  brief  references  and  statements  we  trust  may  not 
be  deemed  intrusive  by  the  honorable  committee ;  and  with 
them  we  respectfully  submit  our  cause. 


No.    i. 
Statement  of  Mrs.  Bidlack. 

Mrs.  Sarah  Bidlack,  wife  of  Benjamin  Bidlack,  now  eighty 
years  old,  was  about  twenty  at  the  time  of  the  battle.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  Obadiah  Gore,  Esq.  Her  brother, 
Obadiah  Gore,  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  army,  and  out  on 
service  at  the  time  of  the  invasion.  Her  brothers,  Daniel, 
Samuel,  Asa,  George,  and  Silas,  (5,)  were  in  the  battle. 
Timothy  Pierce  and  John  Murfee,  who  married  her  sisters, 
were  both  in  the  battle ;  of  these  seven,  five  were  killed. 
Samuel  escaped  unhurt,  and  Daniel  was  wounded.  Mrs. 
B.  was  in  Forty  fort  when  it  surrendered.  Under  the  cap 
itulation  they  staid  ten  days  or  two  weeks,  but  the  savages 
continuing  to  plunder  and  burn,  they  were  obliged  to  fly. 
Their  property  was  stolen,  burned,  or  destroyed ;  nothing 
was  left  them. 

No.   2. 
Statement  of  Mrs.   Huldah   Carey. 

Mrs.  Huldah  Carey,  daughter  of  Philip  Weeks,  was  five 
years  old  the  March  before  the  battle ;  her  father  was  then 
an  aged  man ;  her  brothers,  Philip,  Jonathan,  and  Barthol 
omew  ;  Silas  Benedict,  who  married  Mr.  Jonathan'  Week's 
daughter;  Jabez  Beers,  her  mother's  brother;  Josiah  Car 
man,  her  mother's  cousin;  and  Robert  Bates,  who  boarded 
with  them — making  seven  from  one  farm — went  out  to  the 
battle,  and  were  all  slain.  Her  father,  with  twelve  grand 
children,  and  the  rest  of  the  family  that  remained,  fled 
through  the  wilderness.  They  burned  his  houses  and  barn  ; 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  45 

his  harvests  were   lost,  and  he  left   destitute   and   almost 
childless. 


No.   3. 
Statement  of  Colonel  Edwin  Inman. 

Mr.  Inman  was  here  at  the  time  of  the  battle  ;  he  had 
five  brothers  in  the  Indian  battle  ;  there  were  seven  brothers 
of  them  ;  two  of  them,  Elijah  and  Israel,  were  killed  in  the 
engagement ;  a  third,  David,  lay  in  the  water  to  conceal 
himself  from  the  Indians,  having  got  to  the  river,  from 
which  he  contracted  an  illness  which  soon  terminated  his 
life.  His  father,  an  aged  man,  with  the  family,  fled  through 
the  wilderness  ;  on  their  return,  the  house  and  barn  were 
burned,  their  cattle  were  gone,  their  harvest  entirely  lost 
In  November,  the  same  year,  his  brother  Isaac  went  out 
a  short  distance  from  the  house,  and,  as  was  customary, 
armed  ;  guns  were  heard,  but  nothing  more  was  known  of 
him  that  winter.  The  snow  soon  fell,  and  it  was  supposed 
he  might  have  been  taken  away  prisoner,  but  in  the  spring 
his  body  was  found  in  a  creek  not  far  distant,  shockingly 
mangled.  He  had  been  shot,  beaten  with  a  club,  and  scalped  ; 
thus,  four  of  his  brothers  fell.  Mr.  Inman  was  between  four 
teen  and  fifteen  at  the  time  of  the  battle ;  he  had  been  out 
frequently  on  scouting  parties,  as  every  one  had  who  could 
carry  a  gun.  The  old  men  kept  garrison  ;  they  took  arms 
to  the  fields  with  them  when  they  went  to  work  ;  the  whole 
settlement  was  an  armed  settlement,  though  too  weak  to 
protect  themselves  from  the  murderous  inroads  of  the  sav 
ages.  Mr.  Inman  received  no  pay  when  out  on  duty  ;  he 
is  sure  his  brothers  did  not ;  he  does  not  think  any  of  the 
militia  did  ;  never  knew  of  their  receiving  any,  either  for 
building  forts  or  doing  duty  in  the  field  or  in  garrisons.  The 
times  were  distressing,  and  each  one  did  all  he  could  for 
the  common  defence.  The  buildings  were  generally  burned 
immediately  after  the  battle  ;  the  few  that  were  left  were 
mostly  burned  the  spring  following,  when  the  enemy  came 
down,  several  hundred  strong,  but  were  kept  in  some  check 
by  Captain  Spalding's  company. 


46  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

No.  4. 
Statement  of  Stephen  Abbott. 

Stephen  Abbott  is  sixty-eight  years  old  ;  resides  on  his 
farm  in  Wyoming;  his  father,  John  Abbott,  was  a  settler 
here  in  the  revolutionary  war,  and  was  in  the  battle  in  J  uly, 
1778,  in  Captain  James  Bidlack's  company  ;  he  was  among 
the  few  who  escaped  ;  the  father  and  family  fled  down  the 
river,  having  no  means  of  sustenance  ;  the  latter  part  of 
July,  his  father  came  back,  in  hopes  to  save  a  part  of  his 
harvest ;  in  attempting  to  do  so,  being  at  work  with  Isaac 
Williams,  they  were  attacked  by  a  party  of  Indians,  and 
both  killed.  The  widowed  mother,  with  nine  children,  the 
deponent  being  one,  set  out  through  the  wilderness  on  foot, 
to  go  to  Connecticut  to  their  friends  ;  on  the  way  they  lived 
chiefly  on  charity,  but  were  helped  to  provisions  when  they 
passed  detachments  of  the  army.  Mrs.  Abbott  was  grand 
daughter  to  Constante  Searle ;  her  grandfather  was  in  the 
battle,  and  was  killed  ;  he  was  advanced  in  life  ;  he  had  three 
children  married,  and  a  number  of  grandchildren  ;  Captain 
Deathick  Hewitt  was  his  son-in-law ;  his  son,  Roger  Searle, 
a  young  man  between  seventeen  and  eighteen,  was  also  in 
the  battle  ;  Roger  Searle  and  William  Buck,  a  boy  of  about 
fourteen,  stood  together  in  the  fight,  and  when  they  were 
obliged  to  t  retreat,  fled  together,  the  Indians  in  close  pur 
suit;  an  Indian  or  white  man  called,  "Stop,  and  you  shall 
have  quarter  ;"  Buck,  almost  exhausted,  was  fain  to  listen 
to  them,  and  stopped  ;  young  Searle  looked  over  his 
shoulder,  and  as  they  came  up  with  Buck,  they  struck  the 
tomahawk  into  his  head  ;  Searle  passed  on  and  escaped. 
Mr.  Abbott's  house,  with  its  contents,  and  barn,  were  burned, 
their  cattle  lost,  their  harvest  lost,  nothing  was  saved. 

No.    5. 
Statement  of  Mrs.  Jenkins. 

Mrs.  Bertha  Jenkins,  widow  of  the  late  Colonel  John 
Jenkins,  was  24  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  battle,  now  84, 
in  good  health,  and  recollection  perfect.  Her  husband  had 
been  taken  prisoner  while  out  on  a  scouting  party  to  Wya- 


THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE  47 

1  using,  November,  1777,  the  year  before  the  battle.  Old 
Mr.  York  (father  of  Miner  York)  and  Lemuel  Finch  were 
taken  at  the  same  time.  They  were  taken  to  Niagara.  In 
the  spring  Mr.  Jenkins  was  sent,  under  an  escort  of  Indians, 
to  Albany,  to  be  exchanged  for  an  Indian  chief,  then  a 
prisoner  there.  On  arriving,  the  chief  had  just  died  of 
small-pox.  The  party  wished  to  take  him  back,  but  he  was 
protected.  It  was  thought  the  savages  would  have  killed 
him  because  their  chief  had  died.  Mrs.  Jenkins  was  in 
Jenkins  fort  at  its  surrender,  the  day  before  the  battle.  It 
had  a  garrison  of  1 7,  mostly  aged  persons  ;  but  7  had  been 
killed  two  days  'previous,  being  surprised  by  the  Indians 
when  at  work  at  their  corn  in  Exeter  ;  so  they  had  no  force 
to  resist.  Jenkins  fort  was  but  a  short  distance  above 
Wintermoot's,  occupied  the  day  of  the  battle  by  the  enemy. 
On  the  day  of  the  battle  Mrs.  J.  went  out  and  sat  on  a  log 
between  the  forts,  and  heard  the  firing  ;  she  could  hear  the 
savage  whoop  begin  on  one  end  of  the  line,  and,  being 
taken  up  and  repeated,  run,  whoop  after  whoop,  then  yell 
after  yell,  from  one  end  to  the  other.  It  was  a  mournful 
sound,  and  boded  ill  to  our  people.  The  next  day  (being- 
still  a  prisoner)  she  was  at  Wintermoot's,  and  went  down, 
in  company  with  Mrs.  Ingersoll  and  Mrs.  Gardiner,  to  the 
battle  ground — Mrs.  G.  being  allowed  to  go  and  take  leave 
of  her  husband,  who  was  a  prisoner.  While  Mrs.  Gardiner 
went  to  bid  her  husband  farewell,  she  saw  Philip  Winter- 
moot,  a  tory,  whom  she  was  well  acquainted  with.  "  Look," 
said  he,  "but  don't  seem  to  see."  The  dead  lay  all  around, 
and  there  were  places  where  half-burnt  legs  and  arms 
showed  the  cruel  tortures  our  poor  people  must  have  suf 
fered.  Some  of  the  dead  she  knew.  Mrs.  Jenkins  saw  the 
corpse  of  Murphy,  who  was  slain.  He  was  not  tortured  ; 
and  Mrs.  M.  seems  more  resigned,  for  the  dread  of  her 
husband  being  burned  or  tortured  added  greatly  to  her 
distress.  She,  too,  was  driven  off,  and  in  two  days  after 
getting  through  the  wilderness  had  a  child  born. 

The  women,  Mrs.  Jenkins  says,  did  and  suffered  their 
part  in  those  trying  times.  They  gathered,  husked,  and 
garnered  the  corn,  while  the  men  were  out  on  duty.  They 


48  THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

made  saltpetre  to  manufacture  powder.  We  took  up  the 
floors,  dug  out  the  earth,  put  it  into  casks,  as  we  do  ashes 
to  leech,  and  run  water  through  it.  Then  took  ashes,  put 
in  another  cask,  and  made  lie  ;  mixed  the  water  run  through 
the  earth  with  weak  lie;  boiled  it,  set  it,  and  the  saltpetre 
rose  on  the  top.  We  used  charcoal  and  sulphur.  Mr. 
Hollenback  went  down  to  the  river  and  brought  up  a 
pounder. 

The  battle  took  place  Friday,  the  3d  of  July  ;  and  on 
Monday,  the  6th,  the  prisoners  who  capitulated  in  Jenkins 
fort  set  out  on  the  exile  through  the  wilderness.  Her 
husband,  Colonel  Jenkins,  had  a  commission  in  the  conti 
nental  army,  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war. 

The  children  ofRoswell  Franklin  staid  at  their  house  the 
first  night  after  their  return.  The  Indians  took  their  mother 
and  the  children,  one  an  infant.  Their  father  was  from 
home.  They  put  fire  between  two  beds,  so  that  it  might 
not  kindle  till  they  were  far  away.  When  the  father  and 
the  party  overtook  the  savages,  after  several  days'  travel, 
and  a  battle  began,  the  Indians  shot  the  mother — the  two 
children  ran  to  their  father.  The  infant  was  never  after 
heard  of.  This  was  two  years  after  the  battle. 


No.   6. 
Statement  of  Mrs.   Myers. 

Mrs.  Myers  is  76  years  of  age.  Her  family  were  from 
Scituate,  Rhode  Island.  They  were  early  settlers  at  Wyo 
ming.  Mrs.  M.  was  in  Forty  fort  at  the  time  of  the  battle. 
Her  brother  Solomon  was  in  the  battle.  Captain  Durkee, 
Lieutenant  Phinean  Pearce,  and  one  or  two  others,  had 
ridden  all  night — got  in  just  as  they  were  marching  out, 
and  were  all  killed.  They  marched  out  with  colors,  drums, 
and  fifes.  After  the  capitulation,  the  savages  began  to  burn 
and  plunder. 

Colonel  Dcnnison  sent  for  Colonel  J.  Butler.  They  sat 
down  near  where  Mrs.  M.  and  another  girl  were  sitting. 
Colonel  D.  complained  of  the  infraction  of  the  articles.  "  I 
will  put  a  stop  to  it,"  said  Colonel  Butler.  The  savage 
depredations  became  worse,  and  Colonel  Dennison,  once  or 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  49 

twice,  sent  for  Butler,  and  earnestly  expostulated  against 
their  conduct,  saying,  articles  so  agreed  on  were  considered 
binding,  in  honor,  by  all  nations. 

"To  tell  you  the  truth,"  said  Colonel  Butler,  waving  his 
hand  impatiently,  "  I  can  do  nothing  with  them — I  can  do 
nothing  with  them."  To  show  they  would  do  as  they 
pleased,  an  Indian  came  in  and  took  the  hat  from  Colonel 
Dennison's  head ;  another  came  in  and  ordered  him  to  take 
off  the  frock  he  wore.  This  Colonel  D.  resisted.  The 
Indian  seized  hold  of  the  frock  and  raised  his  tomahawk. 
Colonel  D.  was  forced  to  comply ;  but  seeming  to  find  diffi 
culty  in  getting  it  off,  stepped  backward  where  a  young 
woman  sat,  who  lived  at  his  house.  She  understood  the 
manoeuvre,  and  took  from  the  pocket  a  purse  of  the  pittance 
of  the  town  money,  and  hid  it  under  her  apron.  So,  though 
but  a  trifle,  it  was  saved.  The  Indian  then  got  the  frock. 
Fires  were  lighting  all  around  them.  Mrs.  M.  would  go 
out  to  see  if  her  father's  house  was  safe ;  for  a  few  days  it 
was  left;  but  one  morning  she  went  to  look,  and  the  flames 
were  just  bursting  out.  The  valley  then  seemed  all  on  fire  ; 
smoke  and  fire  rose  from  all  quarters. 

In  the  flight  that  followed,  Mrs.  Myers  went  down  the 
river  ;  most  of  the  family  through  the  wilderness. 

The  next  spring  having  returned,  her  father  and  brother 
went  out  to  prepare  some  ground  to  plant  ;  were  waylaid 
and  taken  by  Indians.  Lebeus  Hammond,  who  had  escaped 
from  the  fatal  ring  on  the  day  of  the  battle,  had  also  been 
taken. 

The  prisoners  saw  enough  to  be  satisfied  that  they  were 
doomed  to  death.  On  the  third  night  they  rose  on  their 
enemy  ;  after  a  desperate  struggle,  killed  all  but  one  or 
two,  who  fled,  and  returned  home,  with  the  arms  of  their 
captors  as  trophies. 


No.   7. 

Statement  of  Mrs.  Courtright. 

Mrs.  Catharine  Courtright,  wife  of  Cornelius  Court- 
right,  Esq.,  of  Pittston,  was  12  years  old  at  the  time  of  the 
battle.  Her  maiden  name  was  Kennedy. 

4* 


5<D  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

At  the  time  of  the  battle  she  was  in  the  Wilkesbarre  fort. 
When  the  overthrow  of  our  people  became  certain,  they 
set  out  through  the  wilderness.  First  night  staid  at  the 
Seven-mile  house.  Mrs.  Dana  and  her  family  were  there, 
and  news  was  brought  that  Mr.  Dana  and  her  daughter's 
husband,  Mr.  Whiting,  were  both  slain.  The  women  walked 
round,  crying  and  wringing  their  hands.  On  the  way,  the 
second  day,  Mrs.  Treusdale,  wife  of  John  Treusdale,  had  a 
child  born.  The  children  were  told  to  go  forward  a  short 
distance.  After  some  time,  Mrs.  Treusdale  and  baby  were 
brought  along  on  a  sheet  fastened  between  two  horses.  In 
about  a  year  the  child  died,  and  Mrs.  T.  said  it  seemed 
more  hard  to  part,  as  she  had  seen  with  it  so  much  sorrow. 
As  they  went,  they  saw,  sitting  by  the  way-side,  a  woman 
and  8  or  9  children,  without  any  food ;  Mrs.  Courtright's 
mother  shared  with  them  the  little  she  had.  Their  property 
was  all  lost.  They  went  to  their  friends,  in  Orange  county, 
New  York. 


No.   8 

Statement  of  Colonel  Ransom. 

George  P.  Ransom  is  76  years  of  age ;  when  14,  he  joined 
his  father's  company.  The  number  of  men  he  does  not 
remember  exactly,  but  a  pay  roll  of  September  to  October, 
1777,  showed  there  were  then  62  names  ;  Mr.  R.  remem 
bers  the  names  of  10  more  who  belonged  when  they  went 
out :  Porter,  Worden,  Austin,  Colton,  two  brother  Saw 
yers,  both  died  of  the  camp  distemper;  Smith,  Spencer, 
died ;  Gaylord,  died  ;  Underwood  was  discharged,  having  a 
rupture ;  Porter  was  killed  at  Millstone.  He  thinks  the 
company  had  80  men  when  they  went  out ;  Captain  Dur- 
kee's  company  was  about  as  large.  In  twenty  days  from 
our  being  ordered  to  march,  we  were  in  active  service.  At 
Millstone  the  two  Wyoming  troops,  called  the  independent 
companies,  with  a  party  of  New  Jersey  militia,  under  the 
command  of  Governor  Dickerson,  attacked  a  large  foraging; 
party  of  the  enemy  that  had  come  out  with  three  pieces  of 
cannon ;  we  took  47  wagons,  more  than  a  hundred  horses, 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  5  I 

and  recovered  all  the  cattle  and  hogs  the  enemy  had  plun 
dered.  Justice  Porter,  of  our  company,  was  cut  in  two  by 
a  cannon  shot  in  the  affair. 

The  companies  were  at  the  affairs  of  Boundbrook,  at 
Brandywine,  Germantown,  and  Mud  fort.  A  detachment 
from  the  companies  shared  in  the  honor  of  that  bombard 
ment  ;  Lieutenant  Spalding  commanded  the  detachment. 
Constant  Matherson,  one  of  our  best  and  bravest  men,  fell 
there.  Frequent  rumors  reached  us  that  the  enemy  medi 
tated  an  attack  upon  our  homes  at  Wyoming,  which  we 
were  raised  to  defend.  Our  officers  petitioned  to  be  sent 
there,  but  Congress  and  his  excellency  could  not  let  us  go. 
At  length  the  danger  became  so  imminent,  and  the  en 
treaties  from  home  so  pressing,  that  many  obtained  fur 
loughs  to  return,  and  Congress  consolidated  the  two  com 
panies  into  one,  under  Captain  Spalding,  and  detached  it 
for  Wyoming  ;  but  it  got  there  too  late.  Some  few  of  the 
officers,  Lieutenant  Pearce  among  the  number,  by  riding  all 
night  through  the  wilderness,  got  in  just  time  enough  to  die 
on  the  field.  I  was  with  Captain  Spalding' s  company,  at 
Shups,  the  day  of  the  battle,  between  40  and  50  miles 
distant.  We  afterwards  went  in  with  Colonel  Butler,  to 
restrain  the  ravages  of  the  Indians,  and  helped  to  bury  the 
dead  as  soon  as  it  could  be  done.  The  battlefield  presented 
a  distressing  sight;  in  a  ring,  round  a  rock,  there  lay  18  or 
20  mangled  bodies.  Prisoners  taken  on  the  field  were 
placed  in  a  circle,  surrounded  by  Indians,  and  a  squaw  set 
to  butcher  them.  Lebeus  Hammond,  for  many  years  after 
wards  a  respectable  citizen  of  Tioga  county,  New  York,  was 
one  of  the  devoted.  Seeing  one  after  another  perish  by  her 
bloody  hand,  he  sprang,  broke  through  the  circle,  out 
stripped  his  pursuers,  and  escaped. 

All  around  the  field  there  was  evidence  of  cruel  torture. 
On  the  6th  of  December,  1780,  Mr.  Ransom  was  taken 
prisoner,  with  five  others,  by  a  party  of  Butler's  rangers, 
with  70  Indians,  and  carried  into  captivity  ;  they  all  suffered 
greatly.  From  Montreal  he  was  sent  to  Prison  island,  from 
whence  he  made  his  escape,  with  John  Brown  and  James 


52  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

Butterfield,  in  the  June  following,  and  rejoined  the  army  at 
West  Point. 

He  does  not  know  the  number  of  men  in  Captain  Hewitt's 
company.  Lieutenant  O.  Gore  enlisted  men  at  Wyoming 
for  the  continental  service ;  he  does  not  know  how  many. 
Captain  Strong  also  raised  men  here.  Captain  Judd  was  a 
lawyer  ;  does  not  know  of  his  enlisting  men  at  Wyoming. 
The  settlements  were  continually  harassed  by  parties  of  the 
enemy,  to  the  close  of  the  war.  Captain  Ransom  (Mr. 
Ransom's  father)  was  killed  in  the  battle,  as  was  Rufus 
Lawrence,  a  near  relative.  His  father's  buildings  were 
burned,  and  every  thing  taken  or  destroyed  in  the  power 
of  the  savages. 


No.  9. 

Statement  of  Islunael  Bennett. 

Ishmael  Bennett  is  75  years  old;  the  family  were  from 
Rhode  Island.  He  was  with  his  father  in  Pittston  fort  at 
the  time  of  the  battle.  The  fort  was  under  the  command 
of  Captain  Jeremiah  Blanchard.  After  the  battle  the  enemy 
came  over,  and  the  fort  capitulated.  St.  John  and  Leach 
were  moving  off  with  an  ox  team  and  their  goods  ;  one  of 
the  oxen  was  shot  down,  St.  John  wounded  and  tomahawked  ; 
Leach  had  a  child  in  his  arms ;  the  Indians  tomahawked 
him,  and  then  handed  the  child,  all  covered  with  its  father's 
blood,  to  the  mother.  The  widows  returned  to  the  fort. 
It  seemed  the  purpose  of  the  Indians  to  expel  the  inhabi 
tants,  but  not  to  allow  them  to  take  away  any  thing.  The 
battle  was  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  just  below.  On 
the  night  of  the  battle,  seeing  fires  under  some  large  oaks, 
near  the  river,  Mr.  Bennett,  his  father,  Esquire  Wrhitaker, 
and  old  Captain  Blanchard,  went  down  to  the  river  side  ; 
they  could  see  naked  white  men  running  round  the  fires  ; 
could  hear  the  cries  of  agony  ;  could  see  the  savages  fol 
lowing  with  their  spears,  and  hear  their  yells  ;  it  was  a 
dreadful  sight.  Mr.  Bennett  married  the  widow  of  Captain 
Dethic  Hewitt.  She  has  told  him  that  Captain  Hewitt  had 
a  full  company  ;  he  does  not  know  how  many  ;  (others  think 
it  was  not  full,  but  contained  about  50). 


THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE.  53 

The  prisoners  were  kept  at  the  fort  7  or  8  days ;  squaws 
would  come  over  with  scalps  of  our  people  strung  together, 
and  worn  as  a  band  round  their  waist;  they  were  then  all 
sent  off;  about  60  started  together,  and.  as  if  there  was 
some  touch  of  mercy  left,  they  let  them  take  a  cow  or  two ; 
fires  were  burning  all  around  them ;  their  houses  were 
burned  and  harvest  lost.  They  passed  the  bodies  of  St. 
John  and  Leach,  on  their  way  out ;  Zebulon  Marcey  and 
family  were  with  them.  Mr.  Marcey  had  gone  before.  He 
had  shot  one  of  the  Indians,  above  the  Narrows,  the  day 
before  the  battle,  and  the  savages  swore  they  would  have  his 
scalp  if  they  had  to  hunt  it  for  seven  years.  A  child  of 
Mr.  Marcey  died  on  their  way  out. 

The  loss  and  ruin  seemed  universal  ;  the  distress  no 
tongue  can  tell.  If  a  few  were  left,  no  one  could  tell  why, 
unless,  tired  of  slaughter  and  plunder,  they  were  allowed  to 
remain  for  future  vengeance  ;  and  before  another  year  was 
out  they  had  their  turn  of  suffering. 


No.    10. 
Statement  of  Ebenezer  Marcey. 

Mr.  Ebenezer  Marcey  is  the  son  of  Ebenezer  Marcey, 
Esq.,  who  was  here  at  the  time  of  the  battle.  His  father's 
family  were  driven  into  exile,  their  house  burned,  and  their 
barn ;  their  cattle  driven  away ;  their  harvest  chiefly  lost. 
His  mother  had  a  child  born  in  the  wilderness,  but  was  com 
pelled  to  go  on ;  the  first  day,  only  a  mile  or  two  ;  the 
second  day  five  miles,  on  foot,  when  she  was  taken  in  a 
wagon,  and  in  a  week's  time  was  120  miles  from  the  place 
of  the  birth  of  the  child.  Such  was  the  suffering  of  the  day. 

No.    ii. 

Statement  of  Jose  Rogers. 

Jose  Rogers  is  now  67  years  old  ;  was  at  Wyoming  at 
the  time  of  the  battle,  in  Plymouth  fort.  His  grandfather, 
with  the  family,  fled  down  the  river  ;  passed  through  the 
wilderness,  very  long  and  desolate,  from  Sunbury,  towards 
Reading;  on  the  way,  his  grandmother,  an  aged  woman, 


54  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

overcome  by  fatigue,  alarm  and  distress,  died  in  the  wilder 
ness.  They  all  suffered  much.  On  reaching  the  German 
settlements,  in  Berks  county,  they  were  treated  with  great 
pity  and  tenderness,  were  supplied  with  food,  and  helped 
on  their  way.  In  the  flight  they  took  two  horses,  and  on 
their  return  found  two  of  their  cows ;  but  their  houses,  barns, 
and  every  thing  that  fire  could  destroy,  were  burned ;  their 
harvest  all  lost.  They  were  in  that  short  time  reduced 
from  the  competence  of  well-living  farmers  to  poverty.  But 
such  was  then  the  lot  of  their  neighbors.  Having  got  re 
settled  in  the  early  part  of  1780,  his  brother  Jonah,  with 
three  others,  were  taken  by  the  Indians,  on  their  way 
through  the  northern  wilds,  going  into  captivity.  They 
rose  in  the  night  on  the  savages,  killed  four  of  them, 
wounded  another  ;  one  only  escaped  unhurt  They  brought 
in  their  arms. 


No.    12. 

Statement  of  Major  E.  Blackman. 

Eleazer  Blackman  is  72  years  old.  He  was  here  at  the 
time  of  the  Indian  battle,  being  then  between  1 1  and  1 2 
years  of  age.  Though  too  young  to  carry  his  musket,  he 
helped  to  build  the  forts.  There  was  a  public  fort  at  Ply 
mouth,  one  at  Kingston,  Forty  fort  (Wintermoot's,  its 
integrity  always  suspected,)  fort  Jenkins  in  Exeter,  one  at 
Pittston,  and  the  fort  at  Wilkesbarre  ;  besides  these,  there 
were  block-houses  of  less  size,  built  by  individuals,  or  two 
or  three  families.  That  at  Wilkesbarre  contained,  Mr.  B. 
thinks,  from  a  quarter  to  half  an  acre.  It  surrounded  the 
public  buildings.  It  was  formed  by  digging  a  ditch,  in  whicty 
logs,  sharp  at  top,  15  or  16  feet  long,  were  set  in  on  end 
closely  together,  with  the  corners  rounded,  so  as  to  flank 
the  fort.  The  Wilkesbarre  fort  had  one  gate  ;  that  of  Forty 
fort  had  two  gates.  Mr.  B.  helped  to  build  that  at  Wilkes 
barre  ;  they  were  all  built  by  common  labor.  He  received 
nothing,  and  he  believes  there  was  nothing  ever  charged  or 
paid  for  building  them. 

The  forts  were  garrisoned  by  companies  formed  of  old 
men  ;  Captain  Wm.  Hooker  Smith  (a  physician  and  surgeon 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  55 

also)  commanded  in  that  at  Wilkesbarre;  they  were  called 
the  Reformadoes.  Mr.  Blackmail's  father,  Elisha,  was  lieu 
tenant.  The  ensign,  Waterman,  went  out  to  battle  and  was 
slain. 

Mr.  Blackman's  brother  Elisha  was  in  the  battle,  and 
escaped.  His  brother-in-law,  Darius  Shafford,  who  a  short 
time  before  had  married  his  sister,  was  in  the  battle  and 
killed.  As  he  fell,  he  said  to  his  brother  Phineas,  who  stood 
by  his  side,  "  Brother,  I  am  mortally  hurt ;  take  care  of 
Lavinia." 

Mr.  B.'s  father  said  to  his  wife:  "Take  the  children, 
and  make  the  best  of  your  way  to  a  place  of  safety ;  we 
must  stay  and  defend  the  fort."  The  family  set  out  by  the 
Warrior's  path,  but,  in  their  alarm  and  distress,  took  no 
provisions.  They  got  on  their  way  a  scanty  supply  of 
whortleberries.  On  the  third  day,  almost  famished  and 
exhausted,  they  got  to  the  German  settlements  in  North 
ampton,  whose  kindness  they  never  can  forget.  They 
furnished  the  party  food,  gave  them  shelter,  and  were  very 
kind.  Depending  chiefly  on  charity,  they  went  on  to  Con 
necticut  to  their  former  friends  ;  some  to  Plymouth,  Litch- 
field  county,  west  and  south  of  Hartford  ;  the  others  to 
Lebanon,  where  they  immediately  joined  in  labor  to  support 
themselves. 

His  father's  house,  furniture,  barn,  were  burnt  and  de 
stroyed.  He  lost  his  oxen  and  all  his  neat  stock  but  two 
cows,  which,  by  singular  good  fortune,  were  saved.  They 
took  two  horses  with  them.  The  path  through  the  wilder 
ness  was  crowded  with  fugitives — old  men,  women  and 
children.  On  the  first  night  of  their  setting  out,  a^child 
was  born  in  the  mountains  ;  Mr.  B.  forgets  the  name,  and 
does  not  know  the  fate  of  the  mother. 


No.    13. 
Statement  of  Rev.  B.  Bidlack. 

Benjamin  Bidlack  is  now  about  81  years  of  age.  He 
enlisted  in  Connecticut,  in  Captain  Filden's  company,  for  a 
short  time  ;  was  down  at  Boston  ;  marched  to  New  York. 


56  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

Had  a  brother  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  taken  prisoner, 
confined  in  the  Sugar-house,  and,  as  he  believes,  starved  to 
death.  In  1777  came  to  Wyoming,  where  his  father  lived. 
Was  out  on  several  scouting  parties — one  under  Captain 
Whittlesey,  from  Plymouth  ;  marched  up  the  river  near  50 
miles  ;  then  over  30  odd  in  the  party.  There  were  rumors 
that  the  Indians  were  meditating  an  attack.  There  were 
none  able  to  bear  arms  but  what  turned  out  and  acted  as 
soldiers.  He  went  to  Tunkhannock  and  Black  Walnut 
bottom  ;  saw  signs  that  the  Indians  had  been  there.  Old 
gray-headed  men  passed  this  time  for  active  duty,  formed 
companies  to  keep  garrison  in  the  fort,  while  the  young  men 
engaged  in  more  active  service ;  this  was  necessary,  as  so 
many  of  the  able-bodied  men  were  out  in  the  continental 
service  with  Washington's  army.  Captain  Wm.  Hooker 
Smith  commanded  one  company  of  the  old  men ;  his  (Mr. 
Bidlack's)  father  commanded  another,  as  he  has  understood. 
His  brother,  James  Bidlack,  led  the  Wilkesbarre  company 
in  the  field  of  battle,  and  fell  at  the  head  of  his  men  without 
retreating ;  and  the  savages,  as  he  was  told  and  believed, 
threw  his  body  on  the  burning  logs  of  the  fort  His 
father  and  family  fled  down  the  river.  In  March,  of  1779, 
his  father  was  taken  prisoner  by  a  party  of  Indians,  and 
kept  several  years  in  captivity.  Mr.  B.  Bidlack  was  not 
here  at  the  time  of  the  battle,  having  enlisted  with  1 1  or  1 2 
other  Wyoming  boys  in  Captain  Thomas  Worley's  me 
chanics'  artillery  company,  Carlisle,  where  they  worked  and 
trained,  making  arms  and  practising  their  use  for  some  time. 
St.  John,  Caleb  Forsythe,  Benjamin  Tillman,  Ebenezer 
Goss,  were  among  the  Wyoming  men  who  enlisted  with 
him.  He  marched  into  Jersey  under  Colonel  De  Hart  and 
Captain  Wm.  Heline.  He  was  at  the  taking  of  Cornwallis, 
at  York,  in  Virginia ;  the  thunder  of  the  cannon  and  flash 
ing  fire  lighting  up  the  night  seemed  yet  present  to  his 
imagination  ;  and  afterwards  in  active  service  in  the  Jerseys. 
While  in  Wyoming,  and  doing  duty  as  a  militiaman,  or  on 
scouting  parties,  he  received  no  pay.  He  thinks  none  of 
the  militia  received  pay,  either  for  building  forts  or  acting 
as  militia  for  the  defence  of  the  settlement. 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  57 

No.    14. 

Statement  of  Joseph  S locum. 

Joseph  Slocum  was  here  at  the  time  of  the  battle,  being 
then  a  child  too  young  to  remember.  The  early  facts  he 
relates  are  derived  from  his  family,  and  he  has  no  question 
of  their  correctness.  His  eldest  brother,  Giles,  was  in  the 
battle,  and  his  brother-in-law,  Hugh  Forsman.  Giles  escaped 
to  Monockesy  island,  and  buried  himself  in  the  sand  and 
bushes,  the  Indians  in  search  ;  they  found  another  man, 
who  had  also  reached  the  island  ;  heard  their  conversation ; 
he  begged  hard  for  his  life,  but  they  slew  him.  Giles  lay 
till  night ;  when  the  enemy  had  returned,  he  waded  back 
to  shore,  and  there  met  Nathan  Carey,  who  had  escaped  ; 
they  went  together,  and  got  safe  to  Forty  fort.  Mr.  Slo- 
cum's  father  was  named  Jonathan  ;  he  was  of  the  society  of 
Friends,  or  Quakers.  He  did  not  remove  in  the  general 
flight;  for  a  short  time  he  was  unmolested.  Mr.  Forsman 
was  an  officer  in  Captain  Hewitt's  company,  perhaps  the 
only  man  who  brought  in  his  gun.  Captain  Hewitt's  com 
pany  was  on  the  right,  and  Forsman  on  the  right  of  the 
company.  Our  men  were  breaking  off  from  the  left,  where 
we  were  outflanked.  Captain  Hewitt  ordered  the  drummer 
to  strike  up,  and  called  his  officers  to  parley,  but  the  con 
fusion  was  too  great  ;  many  from  our  left  wing  were  already 
60  rods  ahead,  and  the  Indians  close  in  pursuit,  before 
Hewitt's  company  gave  way.  Hewitt  swore  he  would  not 
run,  and  fell  ;  only  1 5  of  his  company  escaped.  Forsman 
saw  that  where  two  or  three  of  our  people  ran  together  the 
Indians  gathered  and  were  more  eager  in  pursuit.  He  took 
a  course  alone,  and  got  in  safe.  Mr.  Slocum' s  house  was 
on  the  east  corner  of  the  town  plot.  In  the  early  part  of 
November,  after  the  battle,  the  Indians  came  upon  them. 
Two  lads,  named  Kingsly,  were  grinding  a  knife  near  the 
door ;  they  shot  the  eldest,  and  scalped  him  with  the  knife 
he  was  grinding  ;  believes  his  name  was  Nathan,  a  boy  of 
14  or  15.  The  first  alarm  the  family  had  was  the  gun. 
Mr.  Slocum,  with  his  sons,  except  Ebenezer,  were  at  work 
on  the  flats,  finishing  the  corn  harvest  Old  Mr.  Kingsly, 
father  of  the  two  boys,  had  been  taken  by  the  Indians  some 


58  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

time  before,  and  was  then  in  captivity.  Mr.  Slocum  had 
kindly  offered  to  Mrs.  K.  and  her  children  a  home  with 
him,  till  they  could  look  out  for  some  other  way  to  get 
along.  The  Indians  came  into  the  house  and  took  up 
Ebenezer  ;  the  mother  stepped  up  and  begged  him  off — 
said  he  was  lame — when  the  savages  put  him  down,  and 
caught  up  Frances,  a  daughter,  aged  five  years  ;  carried 
her  and  the  younger  Kingsly  boy  away.  In  the  mean  time 
the  rest  of  the  family  had  fled  to  the  fort,  or  hid  in  the 
bushes.  The  enemy  plundered  the  house  ;  there  were  three 
of  them.  On  hearing  the  gun,  our  people  at  the  fort  took 
the  alarm,  and  Colonel  Butler  ordered  out  a  company  of 
men,  who  marched  up  to  Mr.  Slocum's  house.  Mrs.  S. 
had  fled  to  the  swamp,  beyond  a  log  fence.  Seeing  some 
thing  move  in  the  bushes,  our  men  drew  up  to  fire  ;  Mrs. 
S.,  having  discovered  her  husband,  showed  herself,  and 
probably  saved  her  life.  Mr.  Slocum  then  moved  his  family 
into  the  fort.  The  hay  and  fodder  were  left  at  the  place, 
and  Colonel  Butler  used  to  send  a  file  of  men  to  guard 
them  while  they  fed  the  cattle.  In  December,  (no  Indians 
having  been  seen  for  some  time,)  Mr.  Slocum,  his  wife's 
father,  Isaac  Tripp,  Esq.,  (who  had  been  representative 
from  Westmoreland  in  the  Assembly,)  and  William  Slocum, 
ventured  out  to  fodder  without  a  guard.  Presently  a  cry 
of  Indians  was  raised  by  one  of  them ;  the  savages  had  lain 
in  ambush  on  the  hill  by  (now)  Bowman's  tan-yard.  They 
ran  ;  Mr.  Tripp,  being  an  old  man,  was  soon  overtaken  and 
speared  nine  times  and  scalped.  Mr.  Slocum  and  William 
ran  towards  the  public  square,  but  parted — Mr.  S.  keeping 
the  path,  William  taking  off  through  the  burying  ground. 
They  shot  Mr.  Slocum  and  scalped  him.  A  spent  ball 
wounded  William  in  the  leg,  but  did  not  break  the  bone, 
and  he  got  into  the  fort.  The  bodies  of  Mr.  Slocum  and 
Mr.  Tripp  were  found,  dreadfully  mangled,  and  buried. 

Thus,  in  the  space  of  two  months,  a  sister  was  carried 
into  captivity,  a  father  and  grandfather  cruelly  slain,  a 
brother  wounded,  and  their  house  plundered. 

The  family  heard  no  tidings  of  their  sister.  After  the 
\var  was  over,  and  intercouse  with  the  lake  country  was 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  59 

opened,  Mr.  Slocum's  brothers,  Ebenezer,  Benjamin,  Isaac, 
and  himself,  set  out  to  search  for  her.  They  went  into  the 
lake  country,  inquiring  of  the  Indians  and  of  every  one  who 
could  probably  give  them  any  information  ;  travelled  on  to 
Niagara  ;  offered  rewards  for  her  discovery,  and  finally  vis 
ited  Detroit.  But  all  their  inquiries  were  in  vain  ;  nothing 
could  be  learned  to  give  them  any  clew  to  her  fate.  Time 
passed  on,  and  they  supposed  she  must  be  mouldering  in 
the  grave.  Her  recent  extraordinary  discovery,  having 
been  published  in  the  papers,  is  presumed  to  be  generally 
known,  and  is  not,  therefore,  detailed  here. 


No.    15. 
Statement  of  Cornelius  Courtright,  Esq. 

Cornelius  Courtright,  Esq.  (for  several  years  a  member 
of  the  Assembly  from  Luzerne  county)  is  now  seventy-four 
years  old.  He  was  not  here  at  the  time  of  the  battle,  but 
having  been  a  neighbor  to,  and  very  intimate  with,  Captain 
Daniel  Gore  and  George  Cooper,  having  in  old  times,  when 
at  their  hunting  cabins,  heard  them  talk  over  the  Indian 
battle,  he  will  state  what  he  heard,  and  sincerely  believes  to 
be  true. 

George  Cooper  and  the  son  of  big  Abraham  Westbrook 
stood  together  in  the  battle.  They  were  on  the  left  wing, 
near  the  marsh.  The  ground  had  many  yellow  pine  trees 
and  scrub  bushes  where  they  were.  It  was  evident  the 
Indians  in  great  number  were  turning  their  left  flank.  A 
ball  struck  a  tree  just  above  Westbrook's  head.  Cooper 
and  Westbrook  had  both  discharged  their  pieces,  when  an 
Indian  rushed  on  Cooper  with  his  spear.  Cooper  dropped 
in  a  ball  hastily,  fired,  the  Indian  fell  dead  within  two  rods 
of  him.  "Our  men  are  retreating,"  said  Westbrook. 
"I  will  have  one  more  shot,"  said  Cooper  ;  but  the  enemy 
pressed  so  close,  and  in  such  numbers,  they  were* obliged 
to  fly.  Westbrook  has  told  this  to  Mr.  Courtright.  Cooper 
fled  towards  the  river,  several  Indians  in  pursuit.  He  came 
to  a  log  fence,  which  he  cleared  at  a  bound  ;  the  Indians 
sprang  on  it  with  such  weight  it  tumbled  down,  rolling  them 
over  ;  this  gave  him  an  advantage.  He  reached  the  river ; 


60  THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

the  Indians  called,  offering  him  quarter.  He  would  not 
trust  them.  Passing  over  the  island,  he  saw,  standing  in 
the  river,  the  opposite  side  of  the  island,  one  of  our  men, 
who  could  not  swim.  "Put  your  hand  on  my  shoulder," 
said  Cooper ;  the  deep  water  was  not  far,  so  they  both  got 
over.  It  was  John  Abbott,  afterwards  murdered  by  the 
Indians. 

No.    1 6. 
Statement  of  Mrs.    Cooper. 

Mrs.  Cooper,  widow  of  George  Cooper,  is  now  seventy- 
eight  years  old.  Her  maiden  name  was  Phoebe  Billings  ; 
she  was  born  in  Duchess  county,  New  York.  Her  family 
came  to  Wyoming  in  1774;  she  was  married  two  years 
before  the  battle,  being  then  seventeen  years  old. 

There  was  a  fortification  by  the  block-house,  near,  Benj. 
Courtright's,  called  after  the  person  who  lived  there,  Cap 
tain  Rosecran's  fort.  The  inhabitants  of  the  neighborhood, 
on  near  approach  of  the  enemy,  had  gathered  together  at 
Rosecran's.  On  the  2d  July,  a  scouting  party  had  found  a 
strange  canoe,  with  seven  paddles,  from  which  they  con 
cluded  a  party  of  Indians  were  on  their  side  of  the  river. 
The  same  day  a  messenger  from  Wilkesbarre  fort  came  up, 
warning  of  danger,  and  advising  the  people  to  go  over  to 
Forty  fort,  or  down  to  that  of  Wilkesbarre.  There  was 
much  alarm  and  confusion  ;  families  were  separated  ;  some 
mothers  went  to  one  fort,  part  of  their  children  to  another. 
Mrs.  Cooper  went  to  Forty  fort,  her  husband  and  her  father's 
family  with  her.  Captain  Durkee,  Major  Pierce,  and  another 
officer  from  the  army,  who  had  ridden  all  night,  came  in, 
got  some  hasty  refreshment,  and  went  out  immediately  to 
the  battle.  Her  husband  had  been  out  on  picket  guard  ; 
he  heard  the  drum,  and  knew  they  were  marching  out  ; 
came  ip,  got  some  food,  and  hastened  to  join  our  little 
army.  Mr.  Cooper  made  his  escape,  as  told  by  Mr.  Court- 
right,  and  went  to  Wilkesbarre  fort.  Next  -morning,  came 
over  to  Forty  fort  for  her  ;  they  crossed  the  river  and  went 
up  the  mountain  towards  the  wilderness,  leaving  Mrs.  Cooper 
and  others  on  the  mountain.  Mr.  Cooper  and  James  Stark 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  6 1 

returned,  in  hope  of  getting  provisions,  and  two  horses  from 
the  flats  ;  when  they  came  near  where  the  horses  were,  they 
saw  a  body  of  Indians,  and  were  obliged  to  return  empty 
handed.  The  next  day  they  returned  again,  and  were  not 
more  successful ;  the  Indians  were  spread  over  the  whole 
valley,  and  houses  were  burning  in  all  directions.  On  the 
way  through  the  wilderness,  coming  to  where  meal  had  been 
spilled  on  the  ground  by  some  one  more  fortunate  than 
they,  the  men,  wearied  and  exhausted,  lay  down  and  lapped 
up  the  meal,  to  support  nature.  On  the  sixth  day  they 
met  Mr.  Hollenback,  who  had  been  in  the  battle.  He  had 
been  out,  and  hastened  back  with  a  little  refreshment.  He 
bid  them  -be  of  good  cheer,  for  a  packhorse  of  bread  would 
be  brought  on  presently.  Isaac  Williams  (the  same  who 
was  murdered  a  short  time  after  with  John  Abbott)  soon 
came  up  with  the  bread,  and  every  one  had  a  small  piece  ; 
it  was  divided  among  all  that  were  there.  On  the  seventh 
night  they  got  to  Stroudsburg,  met  Captain  Spalding's 
company,  and  got  some  relief.  From  Stroudsburg,  Mrs. 
Cooper,  her  mother,  and  others,  fourteen  or  fifteen  in  num 
ber,  women  and  children,  went  on  to  their  former  home,  in 
Dutchess  county,  living  on  the  chanty  of  the  people  as  they 
passed.  Mr.  Cooper  joined  with  others  under  Colonel 
Butler  and  Captain  Spalding,  and  returned  to  Wyoming, 
and  helped  to  bury  the  dead.  Mr.  Cooper  had  been  in 
active  service  most  of  the  preceding  year.  He  was  fre 
quently  out  on  scouting  parties ;  was  in  the  party  that  went 
up  to  Wyalusing  the  March  previous.  She  never  knew  of 
his  receiving  any  pay,  and  thinks  he  never  did.  Provisions 
might  sometimes  have  been  found  him,  but  generally  he 
found  his  own.  Of  the  little  they  had  gathered,  they  lost 
every  thing. 


No.  17. 
Statement  of  General   William  Ross. 

William  Ross  was  here  at  the  time  of  the  battle,  being 
then  seventeen  years  of  age.  His  father  and  family  moved 
from  Montville,  New  London  county,  Connecticut,  in  the 


62  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

year  1774.  His  father,  Jeremiah,  died  in  1777.  General 
Ross  had  two  brothers  in  the  battle  ;  his  only  brothers, 
Perrin  and  Jeremiah ;  both  were  slain.  Perrin  left  a  widow 
and  five  children  ;  he  wanted  one  day  of  being  thirty.  Jere 
miah  was  nineteen.  After  the  battle,  Mr.  Ross's  family 
fled ;  two  of  his  sisters,  Aleph  and  Polly,  went  down  the 
river  to  Harris  ferry,  (now  Harrisburg,)  and  thence  to  Read 
ing,  to  Stroudsburg,  and  on  to  Dutchess  county,  New  York, 
where  they  had  relations.  Mr.  Ross  himself,  and  his  sister, 
Sarah  Slocum,  wife  of  Giles  Slocum,  went  out  by  the  Nes- 
copeck  path  to  fort  Allen.  Passing  through  the  German 
settlement,  they  shared  provisions  with  them  hospitably. 
From  fort  Alien  they  went  to  Stroudsburg  ;  there  met  the 
company  of  Captain  Spalding,  Mr.  Ross's  mother,  and 
three  sisters  ;  his  brother  Perrin's  widow,  with  her  five 
orphan  children,  went  out  the  upper  Warrior  path,  having 
only  one  horse  with  them,  there  being  ten  in  their  company. 
There  were  more  than  a  hundred  flying  at  the  same  time, 
and  only  one  man,  Mr.  Fitch,  formerly"  sheriff  of  West 
moreland.  His  mother  and  sister  went  on  to  New  London  ; 
the  others  having  met  at  Stroudsburg,  came  in  when  Cap 
tain  Spalding  marched  in  with  his  company  the  middle  of 
August.  About  seven  miles  from  Wilkesbarre  a  party 
under  Lieutenant  J.  Jenkins  turned  off  and  struck  the  river 
at  Pittston,  mouth  of  the  Lackawana,  and  marching  down, 
met  two  Indians  ;  fired  on  them,  but  they  escaped.  Another 
party,  under  the  command  of  Ensign  Hollenback,  left  at 
the  same  point,  went  down  the  mountain,  and  struck  the 
river  at  the  line  of  Hanover  and  Newport.  Saw  a  party  of 
Indians,  who  fled'  to  the  river.  One  man  fired  on  them, 
and  wounded  one,  who  sprang  out,  but  held  to  the  canoe 
till  they  got  over  and  escaped  into  the  woods.  One  of  the 
party  swam  the  river  and  brought  the  canoe  over.  They 
then  marched  up,  and  the  parties  met  at  Wilkesbarre.  The 
old  fort,  which  stood  where  the  court-house  now  stands, 
had  been  destroyed.  Colonel  Butler,  who  had  taken  the 
command  with  what  force  he  could  muster  from  our  fugitive 
people  and  Captain  Spalding's  company,  took  possession  of 
a  log  building  near  where  General  Ross's  house  now  stands, 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  63 

formed  a  picketing  around  it,  and  made  it  their  quarters 
till  they  could  erect  a  new  fort  on  the  bank  of  the  river, 
in  front  of  where  Mr.  Lord  Butler  now  lives.  The  new 
fort  was  built  by  laying  two  rows  of  logs  horizontally,  four 
feet  apart,  and  filling  up  the  middle  with  earth  ;  built  as  high 
as  a  man's  head,  and  a  ditch  on  the  outside,  a  step  or  bench 
all  round  the  inside,  to  step  upon  to  fire  over.  Tops  of 
pitch  pine  trees  were  laid  beyond  the  ditch,  branches  all 
sharpened  and  placed  outward  to  impede  the  enemy  if 
they  should  make  an  assault.  In  it  was  one  four  pounder  ; 
embrasures  were  made  to  fire  the  gun.  It  contained  about 
half  an  acre.  The  gate  was  on  the  west  end.  It  was 
rounded  at  the  corners,  so  as  to  flank  on  all  sides. 

In  three  or  four  days  after  our  men  came  in,  they 
marched  over  to  the  battle  ground.  The  scene  was  shock 
ing.  The  remains  were  gathered  as  soon  as  possible,  and 
buried.  There  were  two  rings  where  prisoners  had  been 
massacred.  There  were,  according  to  his  recollection,  nine 
bodies  in  one  ;  in  the  other  fourteen.  From  one  of  these 
L.  Hammond  had  sprung  and  escaped  ;  and  from  the  other, 
Jo.  Elliott,  in  a  manner  very  similar.  Mr.  Ross  understood 
his  brother  Jeremiah  was  in  the  ring  from  which  Elliott 
escaped.  Darius  Spafford  and  Captain  Durkee  were  the 
only  persons  recognised  ;  the  latter  was  known  by  having 
lost  the  joint  of  one  finger.  General  Ross,  some  years 
ago,  placed  a  plain  slab  of  marble  in  his  family  burying 
ground,  in  memory  of  his  brother  who  fell  on  that  disas 
trous  day,  with  this  inscription. 

[  Inscription  not  furnished  to  the  printer.  ] 

After  the  meeting  of  the  Continental  Congress,  the  gen 
eral  spirit  of  the  people  in  Wyoming  was  warm  in  favor  of 
liberty.  When  the  two  companies  were  raised,  his  brother 
Perrin  was  appointed  lieutenant.  Soon  after  the  troops 
were  marched  away,  rumors  came  that  the  Indians  intended 
to  attack  the  settlement.  In  the  fall  of  1777,  Mr.  John 
Jenkins,  a  Mr.  York,  and  another,  were  taken  prisoners,  and 
carried  into  captivity.  The  old  men  formed  companies  to 
the  forts,  and  those  fit  for  active  duty  were  fre- 


64  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

quently  called  out  on  scouting  parties.  In  March,  1778, 
a  party  was  called  out  to  go  to  Wyalusing,  under  Colonel 
Dennison,  and  aid  some  whigs  at  Wyalusing  to  remove. 
About  250  men  were  in  the  party  ;  each  one  was  ordered 
to  provide  himself  with  eight  days'  provisions,  one  pound 
of  powder,  four  pounds  of  lead.  Pike  and  Boyd  were  along. 
Mr.  Ross  well  remembers,  while  our  Wyoming  boys  crossed 
a  tree  over  Buttermilk  falls  creek,  with  ease,  Pike  and  Boyd, 
the  first  an  Irishman,  the  other  an  Englishman,  could  not 
run  over  the  log,  and  had  to  be  helped  across.  Boyd*  was 
an  excellent  disciplinarian,  and  helped  to  train  our  men. 
The  party  arrived  at  Wyalusing,  relieved  the  families,  found 
that  Indians  had  been  there  the  day  before,  built  rafts,  and 
returned  down  home  ;  came  down  in  one  day  ;  several  days 
marching  up.  Upon  the  1st  of  July,  before  the  battle,  Mr. 
Ross  was  out  with  a  party  of  near  400,  who  marched  up  to 
Exeter,  to  where  the  Hardings  and  Hadsell  had  been  killed 
shortly  before.  They  surprised  and  killed  two  Indians. 
The  dead  and  mangled  bodies  of  our  people  were  brought 
down  and  buried.  The  enemy  in  full  force,  it  is  under 
stood,  were  then  encamped  in  a  deep  ravine  on  the  moun 
tains.  Other  scouting  parties  went  out  at  various  times  ; 
one  under  Colonel  Dorrance,  who  went  up  the  river  in  con 
siderable  force.  Mr.  Ross  received  no  pay — no  compen 
sation  for  his  service  or  provisions.  He  does  not  know  that 
any  others  did.  He  presumes  they  did  not. 

Our  people  built  five  principal  forts  :  the  one  at  Wilkes- 
barre,  one  at  Plymouth,  Forty  fort  at  Kingston,  Jenkins 
fort  at  the  ferry  at  Pittston,  and  the  Pittston  fort  at  Brown's, 
just  above  the  ferry,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river.  Besides 
these  were  Wintermoot's  and  smaller  fortifications  or  block 
houses. 

In  March,  1779,  before  Sullivan  arrived  with  his  troops, 
there  was  an  invasion  of  the  settlement  by  a  large  number 

*  Note  by  one  of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence. — Boyd  was  in 
Forty  fort  when  it  surrendered,  and  recognised  by  Colonel  John  Butler. 
"  Go'  to  that  tree,"  said  Butler,  pointing  to  one  outside  the  gate.  "  I 
hope  your  honor  will  allow  me  the  rights  of  a  prisoner  of  war,"  said 
Boyd.  "  Go  to  that  tree  instantly,"  said  Butler.  As  he  reached  the 
tree,  at  a  signal,  he  was  shot  dead. 


THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE  65 

of  the  enemy.  An  attack  w,as  made  on  Mr.  Williams's 
house  in  Wilkesbarre,  half  a  mile  from  the  fort,  and  bravely 
defended  by  his  son,  Sergeant  Thomas  Williams,  of  the 
regular  army,  then  at  home.  His  father  was  badly  wounded. 
It  is  supposed  several  of  the  Indians  were  killed  ;  and  the 
family  got  safe  into  the  fort. 

A  party  of  our  people  were  attacked  on  the  Kingston 
flats  by  about  twenty  Indians,  when  Williams,  Pearce,  and 
Pettibone,  were  killed.  Follet  was  shot  and  scalped,  but 
got  in  and  recovered.  The  fort  opened  a  fire  on  the  enemy; 
O'Neil  was  the  gunner.  It  was  evident  execution  was 
done  ;  but  it  was  not  until  two  years  afterwards,  on  the 
escape  of  a  prisoner,  we  learned  that  the  Indian  chief  who 
commanded  that  expedition  was  cut  in  two  by  a  cannon 
ball.  The  Indians  surrounded  the  fort  on  all  sides  except 
the  river,  and  advanced  to  storm  it  in  a  semi-circle  ;  our 
people  opened  a  fire  upon  them.  There  were  about  250 
Indians.  The  4-pounder  dispersed  them.  They  burnt  every 
thing  in  their  way  that  chanced  to  be  left  the  preceding  year, 
or  that  had  been  erected  since.  Mr.  Ross  had  his  fodder 
about  half  a  mile  from  the  fort,  and  used  to  go  out  to  feed 
his  cattle,  armed  with  his  gun.  The  enemy  burnt  his  hay 
and  killed  or  drove  off  his  creatures.  Thus  it  was  almost 
a  perpetual  contest;  blood  flowed  on  every  side;  fire  and 
slaughter  were  all  around  us.  Besides  St.  John  and  Leech, 
at  Capouse  ;  Abbott  and  Williams,  at  the  plains ;  and  Slocum, 
Tripp,  and  young  Kingsley,  at  Wilkesbarre  ;  and  Inman,  at 
Hanover,  there  were  Mr.  Jamison  slain  in  Hanover,  Messrs. 
Jackson  and  Sestre  at  the  mill  in  Newport,  and  many  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river.  Mr.  Ross  was  at  the  fort  when 
Bennett,  his  son,  and  Hammond,  came  in,  having  risen  on 
their  captors,  slain  all  but  one,  and  brought  in  their  arms. 
It  was  judged  a  noble  enterprise.  Colonel  Butler  remarked 
that  it  would  be  glorious  if  Rogers,  Pike,  and  their  com 
panions,  who,  it  was  known,  were  also  taken  off,  could  be 
as  fortunate.  In  a  day  or  two  they  came  in  with  the  arms 
of  their  captors,  having  slain  all  but  two.  The  enemy,  in 
their  incursions,  though  they  generally  laid  in  wait  to  mur 
der,  met  with  frequent  losses.  Many  of  them  fell.  Bitterly 


66  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

as  Wyoming  suffered,  she  was  not  wholly  unavenged.  But 
the  enemy  were  much  superior  on  all  sides.  Our  people 
were  obliged  to  contract  their  settlements,  and  gather  round 
the  forts ;  but  little  land  could  be  cultivated.  Our  numbers 
were  greatly  reduced,  and  our  property  mostly  destroyed. 
My  deliberate  opinion  is,  that  if  the  two  companies  raised 
at  Wyoming  had  been  completely  armed  and  disciplined, 
and  allowed  to  remain  here,  these  sufferings  and  losses 
would  never  have  happened. 


No.  1 8. 

Statement  of  Anderson  Dana. 

JANUARY  3,  1838. 

Anderson  Dana  was  here  at  the  time  of  the  Indian  battle. 
Born  in  Ashford,  Connecticut.  Moved  here  with  his  father's 
family  at  the  age  of  7.  He  was  1 3  years  old  at  the  time 
of  the  engagement.  His  father  had  returned  from  Con 
necticut  but  a  few  days  before  the  battle,  where  he  had 
been  as  member  of  Assembly.  His  father  belonged  to  the 
company  of  old  men — "Old  Reformadoes" — of  which  Dr. 
William  Hooker  Smith  was  captain. 

Mr.  Dana's  father  and  Mr.  Whiting,  who  had  married  his 
sister,  were  in  the  battle.  Both  were  slain.  About  dusk 
Mr.  Hollenback  came  into  the  Wilkesbarre  fort,  and  told 
the  issue  of  the  fight;  Jo.  Elliott  soon  after.  Great  distress 
in  the  fort,  and  anxiety  to  know  who  were  killed  and  who  had 
escaped.  The  battle  was  on  Friday.  On  Saturday,  Mr.  Dana, 
his  mother,  his  sister,  Mrs.  Whiting,  two  sisters,  Susannah 
and  Sarah,  older  than  himself,  three  brothers,  younger — 
Aziel,  Sylvester,  and  Eleazer — set  out  through  the  wilder 
ness.  Old  Mr.  Downing  and  his  family,  the  widow  of 
Captain  Durkee,  and  four  children,  went  out  with  them. 
Mr.  Dana  had  one  horse  to  take  their  things.  Youngest 
brother  6  in  August.  Staid  first  night  at  Seven-mile  house 
(Bullock's.)  He  had  two  sons  killed  in  the  battle.  Next 
day  down  Pokono  to  Merwines.  In  their  flight  took  noth 
ing  but  the  clothes  they  had  on,  a  pillow-case  of  papers, 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  6/ 

which  afterwards  proved  of  value,  and  very  little  provision. 
Old  Mr.  Downing  had  been  in  the  fight,  and  escaped.  They 
went  on  to  Ashford,  Connecticut.  Mr.  A.  Dana  remained 
in  Connecticut  7  years,  and  learned  a  trade.  His  older 
brother,  Daniel,  then  a  student  at  Lebanon,  fitting  for  col 
lege,  came  in  after  a  time  ;  found  their  house  burned  ;  what 
was  not  taken  away  by  the  savages,  all  destroyed  ;  the  cattle 
and  horses  were  all  gone ;  the  harvest  utterly  lost  Daniel 
returned  and  went  to  Yale,  assisted  by  his  friends.  Mr. 
Dana  returned  with  the  family  in  1786. 


No.  19. 
Colonel  Butler  to  General  Hand. 

GARRISON,  WYOMING,  March  23,  1779. 

HONORED  SIR  :  The  intent  of  this  is  to  inform  you  of  a 
late  affair  at  this  post.  On  the  2ist  instant  there  appeared 
a  number  of  Indians  on  the  flats,  opposite  the  fort,  who  had 
taken  one  old  man  before  they  appeared  on  the  flats,  and 
were  in  pursuit  of  another,  whom  the  people  in  the  block 
house  saved  by  advancing  upon  them.  But  our  people 
were  soon  obliged  to  retreat,  seeing  a  superior  number, 
though  there  was  a  very  hot  fire  on  both  sides.  The  enemy 
immediately  ran  about  the  flats,  collecting  horses  and  cattle. 
I  ordered  a  party  over,  who,  with  those  stationed  in  the 
block-house,  made  about  forty,  and  two  sub-officers,  who 
pushed  upon  them  with  such  bravery  that  they  retreated 
through  the  flats,  with  a  constant  fire  on  both  sides,  till 
they  came  to  the  woods,  where  our  men  discovered  two 
large  bodies  over  a  little  creek  ;  suppose  the  whole  to  be 
upwards  of  two  hundred.  Our  men  retreated  slowly,  firing, 
which  prevented  their  pursuing,  Indian-like,  and  got  back 
to  the  block-house  well,  through  a  heavy  fire.  The  Indians 
went  immediately  in  pursuit  of  horses  and  cattle  again  ;  our 
men,  in  small  parties,  pursuing  and  firing  upon  them.  But, 
notwithstanding  the  activity  of  our  troops,  after  severe 
skirmishing  for  two  hours  and  a  half,  the  enemy  carried  off 
sixty  head  of  horned  cattle,  20  horses,  and  shot  my  riding 


68  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

horse,  which  they  could  not  catch,  and  burnt  five  barns 
that  were  partly  full  of  grain  and  hay,  and  10  houses,  which 
the  inhabitants  had  deserted.  They  shot  a  number  of  hogs 
and  sheep,  that  they  left  lying.  We  had  not  one  man 
killed,  taken,  or  wounded,  except  the  one  man  first  men 
tioned  ;  though  a  considerable  number  of  our  men  had 
bullets  through  their  clothes  and  hats.  Lieutenant  Petti- 
grew,  a  brave  officer  of  Colonel  Hartley's  regiment,  had  his 
ramrod  shot  to  pieces  in  his  hand.  It  is  aggravating  to  see 
the  savages  drive  off  cattle  and  horses,  burning  and  destroy 
ing,  and  we  not  able  to  attack  them  out  of  the  fort.  I  have 
sent  by  the  express,  who  will  hand  this  to  Captain  Patter 
son,  to  be  forwarded  to  your  honor,  a  particular  account  of 
the  affair,  and  the  particular  state  of  this  place,  to  his  ex 
cellency  General  Washington.  I  mention  they  have  taken 
off  cattle,  &c.  ;  they  have  got  them  out  of  reach,  but  we 
have  no  reason  to  think  they  have  left  the  place,  as  a  number 
of  fires  were  discovered  in  the  side  of  the  mountain  last  night. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  your  obedient  servant, 

ZEB'N  BUTLER. 

To  GEN.  HAND. 

N.  B. — Of  the  horses  and  cattle  that  were  taken  in  the 
late  actions  are  7  continental  horses  and  8  continental  cattle. 

SIR  :  What  happened  at  the  close  of  this  letter  will 
justify  my  apprehensions  of  the  enemy's  not  being  gone. 
At  i  o'clock,  afternoon,  a  large  party  were  discovered  on 
this  side  of  the  river,  advancing  towards  the  fort.  They 
surrounded  the  fort  on  all  sides,  firing  very  briskly,  while 
others  were  collecting  cattle  and  horses.  I  sent  out  about 
forty  men  and  a  small  piece,  and  drove  them  back  to  a 
thick  wood,  across  a  marsh,  where  the  enemy  made  a  stand. 
The  skirmishing  held  to  sunset,  at  this  time. 

Colonel  Bittler  to  General   Washington. 

WYOMING,  April  2,  1780, 

MAY  IT  PLEASE  YOUR  EXCELLENCY  i  I  arrived  at  this  post 
the  22d  ultimo,  after  a  tedious  journey,  being  obliged  to 
travel  about  forty  miles  of  the  last  of  it  on  foot,  the  snow 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  69 

being  so  deep.  It  is  yet  too  deep  to  get  a  horse  through 
the  woods.  I  am  making  preparation  to  join  as  soon  as 
possible. 

I  think  it  my  duty  to  inform  your  excellency  of  the  late 
transactions  of  the  enemy  near  this  post.  On  the  2/th 
March,  as  three  men  were  at  work  about  three  miles  above 
the  garrison,  by  the  river,  they  were  taken.  On  the  28th, 
early  in  the  morning,  as  two  men  were  making  sugar,  about 
8  miles  down  the  river,  one  was  killed  and  the  other  taken. 
On  the  29th,'  early  in  the  morning,  about  twenty  miles 
further  down  on  Fishing  creek,  three  men  were  killed  and 
three  taken.  On  the  same  day,  in  the  afternoon,  on  their 
return,  they  came  across  a  party  that  went  out  to  give 
notice  to  some  men  that  were  out  making  sugar  ;  wounded 
two  of  them  ;  but  they  all  saved  themselves  by  taking  to  a 
house,  and  all,  with  the  two  wounded,  are  come  in  ;  the 
two  wounded  are  like  to  recover.  On  the  3Oth,  as  they 
were  still  returning,  they  took  one  man,  his  wife  and  child, 
who  were  out  making  sugar.  They  dismissed  the  woman 
and  child,  who  say  they  were  above  30  in  number,  and 
confirm  the  account  of  the  above-mentioned  prisoners  ;  and 
on  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  the  three  men  mentioned 
as  having  been  taken  the  2/th  March  came  in,  with  Indians' 
guns,  tomahawks,  &c.,  and  say  that  they  were  taken  as 
above-mentioned,  and  carried  about  40  miles  up  the  river; 
and  that,  on  the  28th  March,  afternoon,  they  met  a  party 
of  about  thirty  Indians;  one  white  man  and  one  of  the 
Indians  they  knew  ;  and  they  met  two  small  parties  after 
wards,  pushing  down  the  river.  Those  parties  told  our 
men  that  there  were  500  out,  and  a  large  party  coming  on 
after  them.  Brant,  with  a  party,  has  gone  to  the  Mohawk 
river,  a  party  to  Minisink,  and  a  party  to  the  west  branch 
of  the  Susquehanna. 

Those  three  men,  early  in  the  morning  of  the  29th  March, 
arose  on  their  captors,  killed  three,  wounded  the  fourth, 
and  two  ran  ;  which  is  confirmed  by  their  bringing  in  5 
Indian  guns,  one  silver  mounted-hanger,  some  tomahawks, 
and  other  Indian  affairs.  The  parties  they  met  on  the  28th 


7O  THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

March,  afternoon,  have  not  done  any  mischief  here  yet,  as 
it  was  impossible  for  them  to  be  down  so  low  as  where  the 
above-mentioned  was  done.  We  are  looking  for  them 
every  hour.  The  three  men  further  say,  that  by  the  appear 
ance  of  snow-shoe  tracks,  as  far  up  as  they  went,  that  there 
had  been  numbers  of  Indians  there  for  some  months. 

From  the  above  representations,  which  I  have  carefully 
taken,  and  have  no  reason  to  doubt  the  truth  of  them,  your 
excellency  will  be  able  to  judge  what  is  necessary  for  the 
defence  of  the  frontier  in  these  parts  ;  and  can  only  say  I 
am,  with  all  attention,  your  excellency's  most  obedient 
servant, 

ZEB'N  BUTLER,  Colonel. 

His  Excellency  Gen.  WASHINGTON. 


No.  '20. 
Statement  of  Elisha  Harding. 

SIR  :  In  answer  to  your  request,  I  will  begin  with  the 
building  of  Jenkins  fort.  In  the  month  of  June,  1777,  it 
was  thought  proper  to  commence  building  forts,  for  defence 
against  the  enemy.  We  went  to  work ;  I,  but  a  boy,  could 
do  but  little,  except  driving  oxen  to  haul  logs ;  the  logs 
were  about  eighteen  or  twenty  feet  long,  and  placed  in  a 
ditch  of  a  sufficient  depth  to  stand  against  any  thing  that 
could  be  brought  by  the  enemy  against  it  ;  the  corners  so 
constructed  as  to  rake  any  thing  on  the  outside  of  the  fort 
that  should  attempt  to  assail  it ;  it  was  completed,  and  every 
man  to  his  own  work  ;  every  thing  peaceable  until  some 
time  in  November,  when  John  Jenkins,  jun.,  a  collector  of 
taxes,  went  up  the  river  as  far  as  Standingstone,  where  he 
met  a  party  of  tories  and  Indians,  and  was  taken  and  carried 
to  Niagara,  with  two  others — a  Mr.  York  and  Elemuel 
Fitch.  They  also  took  a  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  an  old  man,  and 
sat  him  on  a  flaxbreak,  and  told  him,  if  he  did  not  renounce 
his  rebel  principles,  and  declare  for  the  King,  they  would 
kill  him.  Fitzgerald  said  that  he  was  an  old  man,  and 
could  not  live  but  a  few  years  at  most ;  and  that  he  had 
rather  die  now,  and  die  a  friend  to  his  country,  than  live  a 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  /I 

few  years  and  die  a  tory  ;  the  memory  of  such  men  ought 
never  to  be  forgotten.  As  to  Jenkins  and  the  others,  they 
were  carried  to  Niagara,  and  thence  to  Montreal ;  Jenkins 
there  being  exchanged  or  paroled,  returned  home  in  June, 

1778. 

In  1 778,  in  the  month  of  May,  there  was  a  William  Crooks 
and  Asa  Budd  went  up  the  river  and  stopped  at  Lecord's 
house  for  the  night ;  Budd  said  he  would  go  up  the  river  a 
piece  for  a  light,    leaving   Crooks  at  the   house,  the  family 
being  gone  to  the  enemy ;  when  Budd  came  near  the  house, 
he  saw  people  fording  the  river  below ;  he  put  out  his  light, 
and  ran   his   canoe   on   shore,  and   told  Crooks,  who  came 
out,  but  leaving  his  ammunition,  returned,  and  on  his  com 
ing  out   of  the  house  was   met  by   the   enemy  and  killed. 
Budd,  by  pushing  off  his  canoe  and  floating  down  stream, 
made  his  escape.     Soon  after,  the  people  thought  best  to 
repair  to  the  fort  for  safety.      Those  who  went  to  the  Jenkins 
fort   were   the   Jenkinses,   Wm.    Marten,  Captain  Stephen 
Harding,    Benjamin    Harding,    Stukeley    Harding,    James 
Hudsall,  Samuel  Morgan,  Stephen   Harding,  jun.,  and  Ich- 
abod  Phelps,  a  Miner   Robbins,  John  Gardner,  and  Daniel 
Carr.     Soon   after  there  was  a  party  of  six  set  out  in  two 
canoes,  and  passed  up  the  river  to  a  place  called  Cowyards 
rift,  about  four  miles  below  Tunkhannock,  where  they  went 
on  shore,  and,  ascending  the  bank,  saw  a  party  of  the  enemy 
running  towards  them  ;  they  ran  to  their  canoes,  and  strove 
to  pass  round  the  island,  to  avoid  their  fire ;   but  they  were 
too   nigh,  were   fired  on,   and  two,  M.  Robbins   and    Joel 
Phelps,  were  wounded  ;  they  then  ran  behind  the  island, 
and  took  the  wounded  men  into  one  canoe  ;  and  all  hands 
(the  four)  went  to  work  and  cleared  the  enemy  ;  one  of  the 
wounded  men,  Robbins,  died  next  morning.     The  men  in 
the  fort,  in   order  to   dress   their  corn,  went   in    parties  to 
work  ;  and  on  the  3<Dth  of  June,  the  men  from  Jenkins  fort 
went  up  the  river  to  hoe  ;  one  party  for  S.  Harding,  jun., 
and  the  other  to  hoe  on  Hudsall's  island,  and  the  old  man, 
Mr.  Hudsall,  to  work  in  his  tan-yard.     They  hurried  their 
work,  and  finished,  and  set  out  for  home  ;  part  stopped  at 


/2  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

the  brook  to  water  their  horses,  three  men  and  a  boy,  whilst 
the  other  four  went  on,  and  had  not  got  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  rods  before  they  were  fired  on  by  the 
enemy,  and  the  fire  was  returned  by  our  party  ;  two  only 
had  guns,  who,  it  was  said  by  Butler,  fought  as  long  as 
they  could  stand,  but  being  overpowered  by  numbers,  were 
cut  to  pieces  in  a  most  shocking  manner,  many  holes  of 
the  spears  in  their  sides,  their  arms  cut  to  pieces,  toma 
hawked,  scalped,  and  their  throats  cut.  The  other  party 
at  the  creek  saw  a  large  party  run  from  the  house  to  where 
the  firing  was  ;  thought  it  would  be  throwing  away  their 
lives  to  go  further  ;  stripped  their  horses  from  the  plough, 
and  turned  them  loose,  and  took  to  the  woods,  and  soon 
came  on  the  Indian  trail,  which  was  a  plain  path  to  follow; 
they  crossed  it,  and  took  their  course  for  home,  and  soon 
came  in  sight  of  the  Indians'  fires  ;  then,  turning  west  again, 
took  their  course  for  home,  but  soon  came  again  on  the 
Indians'  fires,  stretched  along  Button's  creek  ;  they  then 
turned  westward,  and  cleared  their  fires,  and  reached  the 
fort  next  morning  about  sunrise.  The  old  man,  Hudsall, 
was  taken  at  his  yard  ;  those  on  the  island,  hearing  the  fire 
from  above,  came  off.  The  younger  son,  John  Harding, 
stopped  to  tie  the  canoe,  the  other  ascending  the  bank, 
were  fired  on,  and  James  Harding  was  killed,  and  Carr 
taken  prisoner.  John,  hearing  the  fire  and  the  groans  of 
James,  jumped  into  the  river  and  sunk  himself  under  the 
willows  that  hung  over  the  river,  with  his  face  out  of  water, 
and  lay  there  until  dark,  and  so  escaped,  although  the  In 
dians  searched  for  him,  knowing  there  were  three  in  the 
canoe.  Sometimes  John  said  they  were  near  enough  to 
touch  him  ;  they  took  the  old  man,  Carr,  and  Gardner,  to 
their  camp,  and  Martin,  the  colored  man  ;  Hudsall  and 
Martin  were  killed  in  the  most  cruel  manner  ;  their  bones 
remained  above  ground  until  after  the  war  was  over ;  were 
then  collected  and  buried. 

On  the  1st  day  of  July,  a  large  party  of  our  men  went 
to  search  for  those  missing,  commanded  by  Colonels  Butler, 
Dennison,  and  Dorrance  ;  they  marched  up  the  river,  and 
the  Indians  down  by  way  of  the  mountain,  and  never  were 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  73 

discovered  by  either  party,  although  not  more  than  one 
mile  a  part ;  our  party  went  as  far  as  where  the  Hardings 
wera  killed,  there  finding  two  Indians  sitting  under  a  tree, 
supposed  to  watch  to  see  if  any  one  came  to  search  for  the 
slain  ;  they  never  discovered  our  party  until  our  advance 
got  above  them  ;  they  strove  to  make  their  escape,  but, 
being  surrounded,  started  for  the  river.  One  was  killed,  and 
the  other  (wounded)  took  to  the  water,  was  followed  and 
killed  ;  our  men  then  returned.  The  Indians  went  to  Sco- 
vel's  mountain  and  encamped  for  the  night ;  and  some  time 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  2d  of  July,  they  entered  the  fort 
without  the  least  resistance.  In  the  course  of  the  after 
noon,  Butler  sent  a  flag  to  our  fort,  demanding  a  surrender 
thereof;  Captain  Harding  and  Esquire  Jenkins  met  Butler  ; 
and  there  being  but  five  able-bodied  men,  and  two  old 
men,  and  three  boys,  left  in  the  fort,  and  the  Indians  in 
possession  of  Wintermoot's,  it  was  thought  most  advisable 
to  surrender  on  the  following  conditions  :  that  nothing 
should  be  taken  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  fort,  except 
such  things  as  were  wanted  for  the  army,  and  that  to  be 
paid  for  ;  the  inhabitants  to  have  liberty  to  return  home 
and  occupy  their  farms  in  peace,  but  not  to  take  up  arms 
during  the  war. 

The  fort  was  taken  possession  of  by  a  Captain  Colwell. 
The  next  morning,  the  3d  July,  they  set  about  demolishing' 
the  fort,  and  in  the  course  of  the  day,  say  one  o'clock,  orders 
came  to  repair  to  the  Wintermoot  fort,  as  the  Yankees,  so 
called,  were  coming  out  for  battle.  Nothing  more  was 
heard  until  about  three  or  four  o'clock,  when  the  firing 
began,  and  we  thought  it  came  near  towards  us,  but  soon 
found  it  to  draw  further  off,  and  in  some  time  appeared 
more  scattering,  which  made  us  think  that  our  army  was 
defeated,  which  soon  proved  to  be  true.  Early  the  next 
morning  we  could  see  them  fixing  their  scalps  on  little 
bows  made  of  small  sticks,  and,  with  their  moccasin  awls 
and  a  string,  were  sewing  them  round  the  bows,  and 
scraping  off  the  flesh  and  blood,  carefully  drying  them,  and 
at  the  same  time  smoking.  As  to  the  fate  of  some  who  fell 
in  the  battle  I  will  relate  as  was  told  at  the  time.  After. 


74  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

the  heat  of  battle  was  over,  every  one  sought  safety  by 
flight  ;  some  towards  the  fort,  and  some  to  the  river.  Cap 
tain  Shoemaker,  plunging  into  the  river,  was  seen  and 
recognized  by  a  Henry  Windecker,  whose  family  had  been 
fed  by  Mr.  S.  ;  W.  called  to  him  in  a  friendly  way,  and 
said  if  he  (Captain  S.)  would  come  on  shore,  he  should  be 
protected.  Captain  S.,  knowing  Windecker,  returned,  ex 
pecting  such  friendly  treatment  as  he  (W.)  had  received 
from  him,  came  to  shore  and  met  Windecker,  who  held  out 
his  left  hand  to  receive  Captain  S.,  and  with  his  right  hand 
sunk  his  tomahawk  into  his  head,  who  fell  backwards  and 
floated  down  the  river,  and  was  taken  up  at  Forty  fort  and 
buried. 

I  will  here  mention  the  story  of  Isaac  Tripp.  In  the  fall 
after  the  Indian  battle,  he  said  himself,  his  grandfather, 
Isaac  Tripp,  Esq.,  Timothy  Kies,  and  Mr.  Hocksey,  set  out 
to  go  to  Capouse,  now  Providence,  to  see  if  they  could  find 
any  thing  left  of  their  effects.  They  travelled  as  far  as 
near  where  Kies  used  to  live,  were  discovered  by  a  party 
of  Indians  and  tories,  and  taken.  They  killed  Kies  and 
Hocksey,  told  the  old  man,  Esquire  Tripp,  to  return  home, 
and  took  young  Isaac  with  them  to  Niagara. 

I  will  here  relate  the  story  of  Eleazer  West,  an  inhabi 
tant  of  Eaton,  the  town  in  which  I  lived,  who  went  to  Pitts- 
ton,  when  the  people  moved  to  the  fort ;  but  finding  that 
his  wife's  parents  had  removed  to  Wilkesbarre,  he  went 
with  his  family  to  Wilkesbarre,  and  was  in  the  battle,  and 
was  wounded,  the  ball  entering  at  his  heel  and  passing 
through  his  foot ;  he  said  he  ran  until,  by  loss  of  blood  and 
fatigue,  he  lay  down  in  some  small  bushes  not  high  enough 
to  cover  him  ;  whilst  lying  there,  a  man  ran  in  the  same 
direction  near  him,  was  killed,  scalped,  and  stripped,  the 
Indian  taking  the  jacket  and  holding  it  up  between  him 
(West)  and  the  Indian,  and  walking  on  until  he  had  got 
past  West,  without  discovering  him,  who  lay  until  dark, 
then  taking  the  mountain  and  moving  on  slowly  towards 
Shawney  garrison  ;  but  before  he  could  reach  there,  the  In 
dians  had  got  there  and  set  it  on  fire.  He  then  moved  down 


THE    WYOMING     MASSACRE.  75 

as  far  as  the  falls,  and  passed  over  the  river,  and  strove  to 
get  to  Wilkesbarre,  but  found  all  was  on  fire  ;  he  then  set 
out,  faint  and  lame,  for  Pittston,  and  found  it  burnt ;  he 
then  set  out  for  the  block-house  at  Parker's  place,  (so  called,) 
and  soon  discovered  it  demolished  ;  he  then  took  to  the 
woods,  as  his  only  place  of  safety,  where  he  soon  saw  a 
horse,  and  caught  it,  and  stripped  some  bark  for  a  halter, 
mounted  his  horse,  and  steered  for  the  Indian  path  that  led 
to  Bethlehem  ;  followed  it  until  he  came  to  the  road  lead 
ing  from  Wilkesbarre  to  Stroud's,  now  Stroudsburg,  took 
that  road  and  got  safe  through  without  having  his  wound 
dressed.  He  afterwards  became  a  preacher,  and  lived  a 
number  of  years,  respected  by  all. 

Lebeus  Hammond  was  in  the  battle,  and  taken  prisoner, 
and  placed  in  the  ring  for  torture  ;  they  passing  around, 
killing  one  every  time  they  came  around,  two  Indians  hold 
of  each  prisoner.  Hammond,  seeing  that  his  turn  would 
come  next,  said  he  thought  he  could  but  die  ;  he  made  a 
sudden  spring,  and  cleared  himself,  and  ran  towards  the 
river  with  his  keepers  after  him,  and  of  a  sudden  turned 
towards  the  pines  and  escaped.  The  next  spring,  he  (Ham 
mond)  and  a  Mr.  Thomas  Bennett  and  son,  were  at  work 
on  Kingston  flats  ;  were  taken  and  carried  into  the  woods, 
and  after  travelling  until  they  thought  themselves  safe,  put 
up  for  the  night ;  and  in  the  morning  one  of  the  party  sat 
about  mending  his  moccasins  ;  and  when  done,  Bennett 
asked  him  for  the  use  of  his  awl  and  a  piece  of  string  to 
sew  a  button  on  his  coat.  The  Indian  looked  at  him  and 
said,  ''You  no  want  button  for  one  night."  He  (Bennett) 
thought  there  was  a  meaning  to  his  answer.  They  travelled 
that  day  to  Meshoppen,  and  put  up  for  the  night ;  in  the 
evening,  the  Indians  went  to  the  creek  to  drink,  and  the 
prisoners  agreed  that  night  to  try  to  escape.  Bennett,  being 
an  old  man,  was  not  bound.  Hammond  was  tied,  and  the 
boy  placed  between  two  Indians.  All  but  one  turned  in 
for  the  night.  The  one  that  watched  had  a  deer's  head 
roasting,  and  would  often  pick  off  what  was  roasted.  Ben 
nett  sat  up  and  took  the  Indian's  spear,  that  lay  by  the 
Indian's  side,  laid  it  on  his  lap,  and  sat  in  a  playful  man- 


/  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

ner  rolling  it  over ;  the  Indian  often  looking  under  his  arm 
at  Bennett ;  but  being  more  thoughtful  of  his  deer  head 
than  of  the  old  man,  gave  Bennett  an  opportunity  to  raise 
his  spear,  and  with  one  thrust  put  it  through  him.  Then, 
loosing  Hammond,  they  fell  to  work  ;  with  the  help  of  the 
boy,  soon  despatched  the  Indians,  all  except  one,  and  he 
ran  off  with  a  spear  in  his  back,  and  the  prisoners  returned 
home. 


EATON,  December  29,  1837. 

SIR  :  In  answer  to  your  letter,  I  have  mentioned  a  few 
things  relative  to  the  troubles  in  our  country.  One  thing 
I  believe  I  have  omitted,  which  you  requested  to  know  ; 
that  is,  the  fate  of  Leach  and  St.  John.  They  started  from 
the  block-house  at  the  Parker  place,  in  Pittston  with  a 
wagon  or  cart  loaded  with  household  furniture,  and  travelled 
to  Kies's  saw  mill,  or  near  where  Mr.  John  Atherton  now 
lives.  One  of  the  men  was  on  the  cart  or  wagon,  with  a 
small  child  in  his  arms,  and  the  other  driving  the  team. 
They  were  met  by  a  party  of  Indians,  and  both  the  men 
killed  ;  the  Indian  who  killed  the  man  on  the  load  took  the 
child,  gave  it  to  his  mother,  saying,  "he  no  hurt."  They 
killed  one  ox,  and  left  the  women  and  children  by  the  load, 
and  the  other  oxen  stood  there  until  a'  man  passing  along 
unyoked  them.  My  impression  is  they  killed  the  men 
because  they  were  carrying  away  goods.  A  Mr.  Hickman, 
wife,  and  child,  were  killed  at  Capouse,  now  Providence,  in 
Esquire  Tripp's  house,  and  the  house  set  on  fire,  and  all 
burnt ;  the  bodies  were  nearly  consumed.  I  expect  the 
Indians  that  killed  Hickman  and  family  were  the  same  that 
killed  Leach  and  St.  John,  as  they  came  from  that  way, 
and  were  going  towards  Pittston. 

I  think  I  have  not  mentioned  some  part  of  the  Indians' 
conduct  with  John  Gardner,  who  was  with  the  Hardings 
when  killed.  I  saw  him  with  the  Indians  when  a  prisoner, 
bound  and  loaded  with  plunder,  and  led  by  an  Indian,  as 
they  would  lead  or  drive  a  horse.  The  Indian  allowed  him 
to  stop  with  his  wife,  who  took  her  little  children  to  him, 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  77 

that  they  might  bid  him  a  last  farewell.  To  see  a  mother 
and  children  standing  around  him  weeping  was  a  sight  that 
I  can  never  think  of  without  a  feeling  of  grief  never  to  be 

o  o 

forgotten  ;  but  after  a  short  time  the  word  was  given  "go, 
go,"  a  term  for  marching  ;  and  he  was  driven  with  a  load 
too  much  for  one  man  to  bear,  compelled  to  carry  it  as  far 
as  Seneca  castle,  about  four  miles  west  of  Geneva,  where 
he  became  so  worn  out  that  he  could  go  no  further,  and 
was  tomahawked  !  His  life  was  only  reserved  for  torture. 
The  Hardings  were  despatched,  fighting  for  liberty !  I 
have  within  a  few  years  past  erected  a  stone  to  their 
memory,  with  this  inscription,  "  Sweet  to  the  sleep  of  those 
who  prefer  death  to  slavery,"  They  were  brought  down 
to  the  fort  on  the  ist  of  July,  and  buried  on  the  2d,  just 
below  Jenkins's  ferry,  by  the  road  leading  to  Kingston, 
where  there  is  now  a  goodly  number  buried. 

ELISHA  HARDING. 

Those  who  fell  at  Exeter  were,  Miner  Robbins,  Benjamin 
Harding,  Stukeley  Harding  (brother  of  Elisha  Harding, 
Esq.,  who  gives  the  committee  this  account,)  James  Hudsall, 
James  Hudsall,  jun.,  a  man  of  color  by  the  name  of  Martin. 
Prisoners — Daniel  Weller,  John  Gardiner,  (afterwards killed,) 
and  Daniel  Carr,  who  was  kept  till  the  war  was  over,  and 
then  returned. 


»o^0  oONOOio 
OnO-iMOO 


MOQN 


4 


f-to 
oo         O  lo  TJ-OO 


.   O  vO  vO   u"i 


NCSN  N  <N  M 


I* 


£  I 


<u^  1*8  •§  <s~  J:  «  ^W  1  !'«  S  w'.S  g  Ir0ffip9'°'« 

a  I  =  I H  =  ill  s  § !  " *« <$ § J  ® '5  sl Ji *§ "5 


BLnOOOOOOOOO-ti-OOOOOCOMOioQOOOOu^OOOOO 
OOOOGOO«C~O«OOOO>-'O>-iOOOOOOO'-iOOOOO 


ro  O  00   rh  "-I 


8o 


t/3 

OO"tOOOOOOOu">O         LnOOu^OOOrJ-OOOO 
MO_iH«OnOO«-«Oi-iO         OOOOOOOOOO*-O 


«  00  O    O    rf 
1-1   O   O   O   O 


U->VQ    1-1    >-i  OO  CO 


ON 
W 


82 


OOOO<NO"->OOCOOOOO^Ot- 
wOOw-H'-'HHOOOOOO'-iOOO 


ro  ro  i/-)  ^  W   "-1    <N 


°£ 


.     1^    O     »0    t^        .          .          .      Tf- 


«s 


-o 

V 


c 

0 

u 


o 

fc 


ro  M         N 


^3      . 


.  > 

S  y§  £  ^  x  ,«  -5 
^  -o  rv:  N  M  ^  i 

"*'      c  -- 


rz:  c  <u 


-    •-     . 

O          r        O     O    to    O 


.  . 


Assessments — traders  and  tradesmen,  &c. 
J.  Hagemon  and  Math.  Hollenback,  assessed  .    .  ,£50  oos. 

Benjamin  Bailey,   Blacksmith 1 5   oo 

Captain  John  Franklin,  I  silver  watch I    10 

Sarah  Durkee,  I  silver  watch I    10 

£6S  oos. 

A  true  list  of  the  polls  and  estate  of  the  town  of  Westmore 
land,  ratable  by  law,  the  2 oik  of  August,  ij8i. 

114  male  polls  from  21  to  70,  not  especially  ex-  £  s. 

empted,  at  £18  each,  at  ...  £\S  005.00^.12,052  oo 


9  oo    oo 


4  oo     oo 


oo 
oo 


oo 
oo 


2    00     00 


I    OO     OO 


26  male  polls,  from  16  to  21,  at  . 
45   oxen,  four  years  old    and  up 
wards,   at ,   .    .    . 

208  cows,  three  years  old  and  up 
wards,   at ,    . 

14  steers,  three  years  old,  at  ... 
1 8   steers   and   heifers,   two  years 

old,   at 

57  steers  and  heifers,  one  year  old, 

at 

173  horse  kind,  3  years  old  and  up 
wards,  at 

4  horse  kind,  two  years  old,  at  . 
7  horse  kind,  one  year  old,  at  . 
127  swine,    one  year   old   and  up 
wards,  at 

9893^  acres  and  parts  of  an  acre  . 

of  plough  land,  at 

191  y<i  acres  of  upland  mowing  and 

HT>  clear  pasture,  at o  08 

[95  bush  pasture,  at o  02 

2  silver  watches,  at I    IO 

Assessments  —  traders,    tradesmen, 

&c 

Total  amount  of  ratable  polls,  property,  and  as 
sessments    . 


3  oo 

2    00 
I    OO 


oo 

00 
00 


234  oo 

I  80    00 

624  oo 
42  oo 

36  oo 
57  oo 

519  oo 
8  oo 
7  oo 


oo    oo        127  oo 


o  10    oo       494  15 


06 

00 
00 


76    12 

9  10 
3  oo 

68  oo 


4,534  17 


JOHN  FRANKLIN, 
CHRISTOPHER  HURLBUT, 
JONAH  ROGERS, 


Listers. 


84  THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE. 

THIRTIETH  CONGRESS— FIRST  SESSION. 


REPORT  No.  823. 

[To  accompany  H.  R.  bill  No.  640.] 


HOUSE      OF     REPRESENTATIVES. 


HEIRS  OF  CAPTAIN  SAMUEL  RANSOM. 


AUGUST  8,  1848. 


Mr.  BUTLER,  from  the  Committee  on  Revolutionary  Claims, 
made  the  following 

REPORT : 

The   Committee  on  Revolutionary  Claims,  to  whom  ivas  re 
ferred  tJie  petition  of  the  heirs  of  Captain  Samuel  Ransom, 
deceased,  report: 

That  the  petitioners  claim  seven  years'  half  pay  due 
Captain  Samuel  Ransom,  who  was  an  officer  in  the  war  of 
the  revolution  and  killed  at  the  battle  of  Wyoming,  on  the 
3d  day  of  July,  1778.  It  appears  on  the  records  of  Con 
gress,  volume  one,  page  453,  of  the  journal,  that  Congress, 
on  the  23d  August,  1776:  Resolved,  That  two  companies 
on  the  continental  establishment  be  raised  in  the  town  of 
Westmoreland,  and  stationed  in  proper  places  for  the 
defence  of  the  inhabitants  of  said  town  and  parts  adjacent, 
till  further  orders  from  Congress ;  the  commissioned  officers 
of  the  said  two  companies  to  be  immediately  appointed  by 
Congress.  On  the  26th  day  of  August,  1776,  Congress 
proceeded  to  the  election  of  officers,  when  Jonathan  Day 
ton  was  elected  regimental  paymaster  of  Colonel  Dayton's 


THE     WYOMING     MASSACRE.  85 

regiment;  Robert  Durkee  and  Samuel  Ransom,  captains  of 
the  two  companies  ordered  to  be  raised  in  the  town  of 
Westmoreland;  James  Willis  and  Perrin  Ross,  first  lieu 
tenants  ;  Asahel  Buck  and  Simon  Spaulding,  second  lieuten 
ants  ;  and  Heman  Swift  and  Matthias  Hollenback,  ensigns 
of  said  companies.  Other  resolutions  show  that  these 
companies  were  on  the  continental  establishment  and  were 
furnished  with  supplies.  Finally,  on  the  1 2th  of  December, 

1776,  the  following  resolve  was  passed,  viz:     "Resolved, 
that  the  two  companies  raised  in  the  town  of  Westmoreland 
be  ordered  to  join  General  Washington  with  all  possible 
expedition."     They  did  join  General  Washington's  army, 
and  were  in  the  engagement  at  the   Millstone,  in  January, 

1777.  They  continued  with  the  continental  army  until  the 
threatened  invasion  of  the  Wyoming  valley  by  the  British 
and  Indians  was  about  to  take  place,  when  they  hastened 
to  the  defence  of  their  families  and  homes.     Some  of  them 
arrived  in  time  to  participate  in  the  bloody  fight  of  July  3, 
1788,  on  the  plains  of  Wyoming,  and  many  of  them,  among 
whom  was  Captain  Ransom,  lost  their  lives  in  the  battle. 
These  companies  having  been  raised  by  Congress  and  placed 
on  the  continental  establishment,  the  officers  having  been 
elected  by  Congress,  having  served  in  the  continental  army, 
and  been  killed  in  battle  with  the  common  enemy,  are,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  committee,  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  all 
the  resolves  and  promises  made  by  Congress  to  the  most 
favored  of  the  revolutionary  officers  and  soldiers.    It  appears, 
too,  that  neither  the  seven  years'  half  pay,  or  the  five  years' 
commutation,  have  ever  been  paid  to  Captain  Ransom,  or 
to  any  one  in  his  right.     The  committee,  therefore,  are  of 
the   opinion,  that  the   heirs   and  legal   representatives   are 
entitled  to  seven  years'  half  pay  due  to  Samuel  Ransom,  as 
a  captain  on  the  continental  establishment,  and  report  a 
bill  accordingly. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


MAY  6    1977 


US,  Oft 


,- 


•- 


RECEIVED 

APR  2  1 1995 

CIRCULATION  DEP' 


APR 


AUTO.  DISC 


LD  21-100m-ll,'49(B7146sl6)476 


. 


•b 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


II 


